Agile & UX

The presentation below started out as a short talk at the UX Cocktail Hour. However, the presentation has been gaining in popularity. So I decided to post it here. Because it does not really stand alone to people not at the presentation some misunderstandings have resulted. I will record the presentation with audio, but in the mean time, let a few words here suffice: It is a design-centric view of Agile, or rather a War weary design centric view of agile.

The main point being that Agile is not a development method as much as it is a way of setting aggressive deadlines. What happens in one Agile project does not predict success for another. Instead the designer needs to be Agile in figuring out how they can best fit in. However, that agility should not extend to your design process. Designs still need to be well thought out concepts not something grown together in piecemeal increments.

The bottom line message (found on the last slide) is to be truly successful in Agile, you need to follow your own design process but be intimately involved in the Scrum process, preferably as a Scrum Master. This is essential for maintaining an overview of what is going on with your design. At the very least, own the user facing stories/requirements in the product backlog.
And Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were meant to personify regression testing.

Have a look at the Slideshare presentation.