Agile UX: the ultimate in usercentred software engineering?

Transcription

1 Agile UX: the ultimate in usercentred software engineering? Prof Helen Sharp, Centre for Research in Computing The Open University, UK With acknowledgement to: Jennifer Ferreira, Laura Plonka, Hugh Robinson, and all my industrial collaborators IRIS/SCIS 2014

2 My perspective Software practitioner and scrum master Empirical studies of software practice Human and social aspects Agile studies in practice since late 1990s Taught HCI/Interaction Design since 1990 Interaction design textbook

3 Overview Agile software development User-centred software engineering, UX design, and Agile UX From the designers perspective From the developers perspective Agile UX: approaches and trends Problems persist: 4 potential research questions So is Agile UX the ultimate in user-centred software engineering?

4 Agile software development We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

5 Agile software development Many different brands The cost-time-scope trade-off traditional (plan-based) agile

6 Key characteristics of agile software development Iterative and incremental delivery Short timeboxes/iterations, or limited wip (Kanban) Disciplined team working Minimal documentation, increased communication Regular demonstrations to product owner (user?) Cross-functional teams

7 Overview Agile software development User-centred software engineering, UX design, and Agile UX From the designers perspective From the developers perspective Agile UX: approaches and trends Problems persist: 4 potential research questions So is Agile UX the ultimate in user-centred software engineering?

8 software engineering User-centred design User-centred design (Gould and Lewis 1985) Early focus on users and tasks Empirical measurement Iterative design Early focus on users and tasks (Rogers et al, 2011) Users tasks and goals are driving force Users behaviour and context are designed for Users characteristics are designed for Users are consulted throughout All design decisions are taken in user context

9 UX Design Designing how the product behaves and is used in the real world how it works on the outside, where a person comes into contact with it and has to work with it Tends to be the term used in industry to cover HCI activities including UCD Agile UX is about integrating UX Design and agile Jesse James Garrett (2003) The Elements of User Experience, New Riders

10 Integrating HCI and software engineering Challenges to integration of usability in software development (Seffah et al, 2005) The meaning of usability The people gap: UX designers and software engineers are different The responsibilities gap: user interface vs functionality Subsystem decomposition, separating the user interface from the rest Attitude: usability takes too much time Shortage of training and UX design experience Attitude: organisational shift (resistance) A. Seffah, J. Gulliksen, M.C. Desmarais (2005) Human-centred software engineering: Integrating usability in the software development life-cycle, Springer

11 Agile UX: the design perspective The design process is stuck in the world of print, (Ratcliffe and McNeill, 2012) UX design not addressed (still) in agile methods Lean UX (Gothelf, 2013) Remove waste from UX design process Create cross-functional collaboration to bring nondesigners into the design process Mindset shift to experimentation Design thinking (focus on what people want and what technology can deliver) Agile development philosophy Minimal viable product L. Ratcliffe and M. McNeill (2012) Agile Experience Design, New Riders: p4 J. Gothelf with J. Seiden (2013) Lean UX, O Reilly agile_management/page/9/

12 Agile UX: the developer perspective None of the agile methods regards UX as different from any other sub-discipline (e.g. database design, testing) XP s Whole Team practice: What the whole team was missing was a sense that they were roped together (Beck and Andres, 2005, p74) What s the big deal?! Design thinking and agile development are complementary K. Beck and Andres (2005) Extreme Programming Explained (2 nd edition) p74

13 Overview Agile software development User-centred software engineering, UX design, and Agile UX From the designers perspective From the developers perspective Agile UX: approaches and trends Problems persist: 4 potential research questions So is Agile UX the ultimate in user-centred software engineering?

14 Agile UX: approaches and trends Whole team practice (cross-functional) Techniques, e.g. personas, discount usability Processes, e.g. train tracks integration, joint stand-ups, common demos Tools, e.g. common application framework makes sure User Interface is designed in Recommendations or principles Articulation work, e.g. the need for detailed interaction between individuals

15 XP s whole team practice Relying on cross-functional teams assumes that bringing people together leads to the integration of concerns, but does it? Bringing people together may not be achievable, or considered desirable: Integration with business-as-usual systems needs to be conducted according to organisational QA standards UX designers work best when they are separated from the issues of software construction because these issues hamper creativity

16 Integrating UX techniques: the persona Persona reminds developers who the user is Personas become part of the discourse Can be used to help address pain points

17 Integrating UX and agile processes Desirée Sy and Lynn Miller, Autodesk

18 Integrating UX: tools Application framework to bring interface and interaction design consistency Interface/interaction design plus code

19 Integrating UX: principles Jeff Patton s 12 patterns of common behaviours: Research, model and design up front, but only just enough Buy design time with complex technical stories Neilsen Norman group report recommend: Development and design in different tracks Maintain a coherent vision UX practitioner advice Professional communities, e.g. UX magazine, balancedteam.org Experience reports, e.g. at CHI and Agile conferences

20 Integrating UX: day-to-day Integration is contingent on the context Day-to-day achievement Timing and scheduling issues Visibility issues Four themes: Integration as mutual awareness Integration as negotiating progress Integration as engaging with each other Integration as expectations about acceptable behaviour Ferreira, J., Sharp, H. and Robinson. H. (2012) Agile Development and User Experience Design Integration as an Ongoing Achievement in Practice, Agile 2012

21 Overview Agile software development User-centred software engineering, UX design, and Agile UX From the designers perspective From the developers perspective Agile UX: approaches and trends Problems persist: 4 potential research questions So is Agile UX the ultimate in user-centred software engineering?

22 Problems persist (many of which have nothing to do with agile) Misunderstandings Unexplored assumptions Boundaries and responsibilities lack of communication but what to communicate, how and when? Level of precision in upfront design: less is more Design documentation: what is enough When to do User Testing: not the same as demos L. Plonka, H. Sharp, A.J. Gregory and K.J. Taylor (2014) UX design in agile: a DSDM case study in Proceedings of XP 2014

23 4 Potential research questions 1. How to integrate professional cultures more successfully? 2. How to recognise when enough user research/design/ detail has been done before implementation starts? 3. How to chunk designs for incremental delivery without losing the design vision? 4. How to identify and track dependencies between different functions/responsibilities BUT Remember that agile is a lightweight approach!

24 RQ1: Integrating professional cultures each profession has a different cognitive map. The cognitive map develops as a consequence of the educational and socialization experiences of the students of each profession, built on each student s own unique cognitive and constitutional make-up. This map is a major component of the culture of each profession. A major challenge facing proponents of effective interprofessional teamwork is to provide opportunities for team members to understand each other s cognitive maps Hall, P. (2005) Inter-professional teamwork: Professional cultures as barriers, Journal of Interprofessional Care, Supplement 1:

25 Professional culture Education/apprenticeship: how to do things Tools of the trade: what is important Boundaries: what s in my responsibility/ competence Identity and socialisation: what does it mean to be a designer, a tester, a developer etc Misunderstandings Unexplored assumptions Boundaries and responsibilities

26 RQ2: When is enough enough? Less precision in design is better Prioritision & de-scoping lead to waste of pixel perfect designs Issues with design found when implementing Pixel perfect design increases resistance to change No distractions, focus on most important Quality improved through early input from developers How much detail is needed to progress a working prototype? What kind of design decision to be made by which expert? Does it matter? Is training enough (but see professional cultures comments)?

27 RQ3: Chunking the vision Design disciplines emphasise a coherent vision Consistency Overall experience: smoothness, attractiveness Emotional Design (Donald Norman, 2005) Short iterations require chunking Traditionally, designers produce overall design upfront Designers output is designs, developers working code Top-down versus bottom-up

28 RQ4: Keeping track of dependencies Agile documentation is not good at this (Sharp et al, 2009) Stories and The Wall Code repositories etc keep implementation dependencies, not user scenario-based overview Problems with UAT (user acceptance testing) can be traced to the loss of overall business function view H. Sharp, H., H.M. Robinson, and M. Petre (2009) The Role of Physical Artefacts in Agile Software Development: two complementary perspectives, Interacting with Computers, 21(1-2)

29 Overview Agile software development User-centred software engineering, UX design, and Agile UX From the designers perspective From the developers perspective Agile UX: approaches and trends Problems persist: 4 potential research questions So is Agile UX the ultimate in user-centred software engineering?

30 UCD/SE and agile compared Both are iterative Both focus on business/user/customer Both consult business/user/customer throughout Both focus on measurable completion criteria Agile iterates on code while UCD iterates on design Agile talks mostly about product owner or customer, not necessarily user Design has traditionally been documentation-heavy while agile is documentation-light In agile working, developers have more authority and designers feel side-lined

31 Is Agile UX the ultimate usercentred software engineering? Maybe, since many HCI/SE integration barriers have reduced Indeed, it will be if

32 Pragmatic, lightweight approaches can be found to Support continuous communication and integrated working between different professional cultures (RQ1) Identify the optimum point at which designs can move into implementation iterations (RQ2) Robustly divide an overall, coherent design vision for development in short iterations (RQ3) Maintain user-based dependencies once iterations start (RQ4)

33 Closing remarks Practitioners are pragmatic and will find answers to these challenges, but they don t have time to stop running and reflect Researchers have time to reflect and develop theory-based approaches but they must be practical, lightweight, and preferably a sideproduct of normal work

34 Thanks for listening Any questions?

35 What does culture affect? Techniques, processes, tools, recommendations Terminology: sketch, prototype, design Assumptions: I assumed it would work this way, timeframe, what is important Priorities: focus on user, focus on working code Approach/philosophy: consider many alternatives, find one that works well Expectations: re-work, stability, level of detail, what is my output

36 What is UX design? Designing how the product behaves and is used in the real world how it works on the outside, where a person comes into contact with it and has to work with it every product that is used by someone has a user experience: newspapers, ketchup bottles, reclining armchairs, cardigan sweaters * Wireframes, visual designs, interface widgets, user characterisations, user research, usability testing. *Jesse James Garrett (2003) The Elements of User Experience, New Riders: p10