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August 19, 2010
- Design oriented approach in Agile SW development the best of two worlds
May 3, 2010
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April 4, 2010
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January 14, 2010
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January 12, 2010
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December 22, 2009
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October 30, 2009
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October 27, 2009
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September 9, 2009
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September 4, 2009
- Lähdesmäki: Matti Nykänen katoaa lööpeistä 2030
Design oriented approach in Agile SW development the best of two worlds
Monday, May 3, 2010
Combining design and software development has been a topic for quite a while now, and we’ve seen so many entries, heard keynote speeches etc. However, this seems to be still a problematic area, which I face so often in our projects. I have written down some key points based on my experiences in those about 50 SW projects, in which I have practiced user centered design methods in Agile SW world. As we all know: we can’t have universal guide to manage these things, but…
1) The first point is ownership - something I emphasize a lot. You must have a very strong and active owner policy. It’s your product or service we’re creating; you just can’t outsource ownership.
2) The second is importance of the end users – don’t forget them. It is very important to base your design into real user needs. Conduct a research to find out who the end users are and what they really want. It’s not that expensive, if you do it in a right way. It’s far more expensive to leave it away. To be efficient, conduct research in customer events, for example, and take full advantage of the investment. The web tools are very cheap and easy to use, too. Just don’t forget the co-creation mode.
3) Use agile methods, whenever they give you real benefits. Waterfall is still useful and works perfectly in many cases. I would suggest you to use waterfall models in concept creation phase. After the goal is clear, you can start running agile methods. No, this doesn’t mean that everything is designed beforehand. According to my experience, understanding the delivery just gets people committed and saves money & time.
4) I love agile SW processes. As designers we have an opportunity to be involved in projects from the very beginning to the end. This gives us a possibility to influence in the implementation more than ever before. We are not just delivering the documents or pictures – we have a huge responsibility! To be able to take it, we have to be prepared. The agile methods have to be taken seriously. I’ have been witnessing poor execution so many times… So be professional and act like one.
5) This is teamwork and every team needs a coach. In design world it is often dictatorship that rocks. In an ideal case, the chosen person has a strong understanding of the worlds of design and software – and loves both of them.
There could be many more useful tips. Actually, you could easily write a novel about this subject. And there are pretty good books available already today! This was just a fast wrap-up based on my experiences. Feel free to add your experiences and continue with your own wrap-up!
Jesse Maula, CEO, Idean
