A Three-Fold Integration Framework to Incorporate User–Centered Design into Agile Software Development

Abstract

We present a framework that incorporates user-centered design (UCD) philosophy into agile software development through a three-fold integration approach: at the process life-cycle level for the selection and application of appropriate UCD methods and techniques in the right places at the right times; at the iteration level for integrating UCD concepts, roles, and activities during each agile development iteration planning; and at the development-environment level for managing and automating the sets of UCD activities through automated tools support. We also present two automated tools-UEMan and TaMUlator, which provide the realization of the development-environment level integration.

Integrating Usability into the Agile Development Process: A preliminary empirical study

“…UCD is an approach to user interface design focusing on how it will be understood and used by a human user throughout the planning, design, and development stages of a product [2]. Judging by the increase in the number of publications over the last decade, the integration between ASDP (like XP [3], SCRUM [4]) and UCD has been the focus of research over the last few years [5] [6][7] [8]. There are three possible reasons for this growing interest.…”

“…First, UCD is useful for understanding the needs of potential system users and how software can support user goals and activities and improve system usability and the satisfaction of users interacting with the system. However, the ASDP does not usually take into account such features [6] [8]. Usability is a quality attribute of software system use and relies not only on the appearance of the user interface but also on how the user interacts with the system.…”

Requirements Engineering Related Usability Techniques Adopted in Agile Development Processes

“…The integration of agile software development processes (ASDP) (for example, XP [1] and SCRUM [2]) and the usercentred design process has been a focus of research over the last few years [3][4] [5]. This growing interest is explained by the fact that UCD is useful for understanding the needs of future system users and how the software can provide support for their goals and activities in order to improve usability and user satisfaction with system interaction.…”

“…This growing interest is explained by the fact that UCD is useful for understanding the needs of future system users and how the software can provide support for their goals and activities in order to improve usability and user satisfaction with system interaction. However, such features are not usually taken into account during requirements elicitation in the ASDP [3] [5]. Usability is a quality attribute of software system use and relies not only on the appearance of the user interface but also on how the user interacts with the system [6].…”

“…These user stories are living entities because they are constantly changing [2]. On the other hand, UCD places the user at the centre of requirements analysis, design and evaluation activities in order to improve the usability of the final product [3]. UCD professionals apply UCD techniques and methods as part of a collaborative and iterative process [8] [9].…”