The role of the interaction designer in an agile software development process

Reviewer: Susan Chopra

While it was first introduced over 15 years ago, interest in agile programming has recently been gaining momentum as more and more companies adopt and put into practice agile software development processes. "Agile" refers to a collection of software development methodologies, all of which adhere to a set of underlying principles, known as the agile manifesto. When compared to the more traditional waterfall model of software development, agile is often viewed as somewhat radical, emphasizing rapid, iterative development. An aspect of the agile software development process that is still being understood is how traditional user-centered design activities fit into this process. Lievesley and Yee attempt to address this issue. For an interaction designer confronted with the challenge of fitting into an agile process, this paper hints at providing some valuable insight. Unfortunately, at only five pages, the paper is a bit lacking in substance and clarity. Though one may not guess from its title, the paper is written as a case study. It gives a retrospective of the experiences of interaction designers from a design consultancy contracted to work with the development team of a software company. For the development team, this project was their first experience with an agile process. The case study begins with the background of the development team, the interaction design team, and the project on which they were collaborating. Following a scrum agile process, the interaction designers were asked to take an "immersive approach," placing themselves directly in among the development team. This approach was not the norm for the interaction designers. The paper then discusses more specific experiences of the interaction designers working in an agile environment. The first challenge encountered by the interaction designers was their need to demonstrate value early on. As experienced by these designers, the rapid, iterative aspects of the agile process often do not allow for the upfront time for research and analysis typically performed in a user-centered design process. The interaction designers embarked on this challenge by creating several wireframes depicting various visions of the design of the software. Their approach was successful in demonstrating to the development team the value of the sign team to this software development process. The paper then discusses the continued advancement of the project as it progressed following agile scrum methodologies, and the challenges this process presented to the interaction designers. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of findings on how interaction design fits within an agile development process. While its roots stem back to the 1990s, agile software development is very much a topic of current discussion. Of particular interest is how typical user-centered design activities fit within the agile framework. Unfortunately, this paper does not provide sufficient insight in this area. With its lack of detail and ambiguous examples, the experiences presented in this case study are hard to leverage. Online Computing Reviews Service