[IxDA Discuss] Is user research a band-aid for "the listening deficit"?

[Adrian Howard]

On 8 Jan 2008, at 12:13, Jared M. Spool wrote:
[snip]
> I've said it before and I'll say it again:
>
> In our research, it's all about the measures and rewards. What gets  
> measured, gets done. What gets rewarded, gets done well.
[snip]
> Want something to happen: build a culture that rewards it.

Absolutely.

> Agile, by itself, isn't more likely to reward good design. Like any  
> methodology suite, it can be bent to fit the existing culture's  
> reward policies. As many teams are now discovering, in the wrong  
> cultures, Agile is just as toxic and waterfall.

I certainly don't think agile is a panacea. Having an agile process  
doesn't automatically mean that you get products with a wonderful  
user experience.

I've have found that they do a better job of delivering the product  
you asked for in a timely manner. So at least the company finds out  
that they asked for a bad product more quickly. A not insignificant  
advantage on occasion :-)

The reason I like working on agile teams is that, in my experience  
anyway, is that they're _much_ more open to the cultural change that  
you're talking about. They value communication, cross-disciplinary  
knowledge, and building successful (rather than "to spec") products.  
What they lack are the IxD/UX/IA/usability/whatever personnel/outlook/ 
skills.

When I'm doing UX work in a waterfall-type environment I feel like I  
have to fight to find a place in that hierarchy. Inevitably you're  
making some group's job "harder" because they are only interested in  
their narrow slice of the bigger picture.

I just don't find those sorts of problems with agile groups. They  
already have a "listening" culture. I just need to find a way to  
speak in a language they will understand.

Cheers,

Adrian