The Intersection of Agile and User Experience

Mike Donoghue is a member of a multinational information technology corporation where he collaborates on the communications guidelines and customer relationship strategies affecting the interactions with internal and external clients. He has analyzed, defined, designed and overseen processes for various engagements including product usability and customer satisfaction, best practice enterprise standardization, relationship/branding structures, and distribution effectiveness and direction. He has also established corporate library solutions to provide frameworks for sales, marketing, training, and support divisions.

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Topics: Agile

Back in the day when the agile project management methodology appeared, it was considered the go-to answer to issues like over-inflated timelines, constrictive development cycles, and unhappy clients. It is not a perfect system, but it has been successful through techniques like scrum meetings and Kanban boards, where collaboration, flexibility and recurrent delivery of software components have been the highest priorities.

There are some things to take into consideration, however. When executed appropriately, agile can greatly improve the user experience. Unfortunately, when it is misunderstood or not correctly applied, it can also adversely affect the very user satisfaction standards it seeks to support. Let’s look at some things to keep in mind on both sides of the spectrum…

Agile Principles and User Experience: A Good Matchup (Usually)

1. The Promises of Reliable Feedback
A key strength of agile is the importance it places in iterative development and constant feedback. Each sprint is designed to produce a piece of the final product with the intent that it can be reviewed by stakeholders and (hopefully) users. By virtue of this approach, the product then changes and evolves in direct response to user input. If a customer wants a better interface, a bigger screen font, or a quicker method of access, those fixes can be prioritized within the sprints.

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