I'd like to put forward the concept of User Centred Agile, an approach where the principles of agile development operate within a larger user centred environment. For example, while developing user stories to help prioritise development still remains part of agile, these stories are the result of qualitative user research and not the result of stakeholder workshops. Another example: while UE is represented throughout the project, there is dedicated time to conduct sufficient qualitative user research.
Why User Centred Agile?
The majority of references to UE and Agile I came across, talk about Agile Usability; they describe how user centred design can be adapted to work in an agile environment. The term 'Agile Usability' at best suggests a compromise, not just for Agile and UE practitioners but more importantly a compromise in the user centricity of the final product / solution. 'Agile Usability' suggests a cut down version of usability - already the wrong term- to fit in agile timelines. Agile Usability appears to be synonymous with discounted usability.
One of the main arguments coming from commentators when discussing the relationship between agile and UE is to bolt on 'usability' at the beginning of a project to 'explore interaction issues'. I will go through the reasons why this is a compromise that will affect the quality of the end product in future posts. For now it is enough to say that reducing user centered design to usability and interaction issues removes the possibility of innovation in agile environments.
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