The importance of integrating Thinking Design, User Experience and Agile methodologies to increase profitability

Since every company wants to make a big profit, it is necessary for every company to focus on the customer and his requirements. This paper discusses the advantages of the methodologies Design Thinking, User Experience Design and Agile and based on other research shows that their connection is important in practice because it leads to greater creativity, innovation and profitability. Various researches and considerations (from scientific papers) on the integration of design thinking, User experience and agile development are presented, and conclusions are made as to why it is good to use combined methods. The author of the paper created a picture, which is a key contribution of the paper, which shows the key features of each of the methodologies where a cross-section shows the importance of using all three methodologies together. Through the cross-section it can be seen that in practice all three methodologies focus on meeting the needs of product users (customers) because companies aim to keep customers satisfied because in this way they would provide a profit. User Experience focuses on making products usable and useful, desirable and affordable to customers (users). Design Thinking methodology offers the possibility of aligning the goal of a highly innovative project with maximum utility for users

Determinants for Successful Agile Collaboration between UX Designers and Software Developers in a Complex Organisation

Agile and User-centered design processes have been reported to frequently putting contradictory demands on people working within these methodological frameworks. The current research addresses this point by focussing on the crucial relationship between software developer and designer. An online survey, a contextual inquiry, and a diary study were employed with 107 developers and designers in a large media organization to determine the factors for success in agile development cycles. The results from the survey show that while developers and designers have similar levels of satisfaction with agile processes, there are differences in the factors predicting those ratings. Developers are happier with the wider teamwork but want more access to and close collaboration with designers, while the latters’ concern was the quality of the wider teamwork. Additional contextual inquiries and a diary study with pairs of designers and developers reflected the survey findings that close cooperation (and proximity) was essential for improving communication, reducing inefficiencies, and avoiding suboptimal products being released. However, organizational processes, the setup of the work environment, and managerial traditions meant that this close collaboration and localized decision-making was found difficult to maintain. Results from the survey, the contextual inquiry, and the diary study found six factors for success from collaborations emerged

Uso de metodologia ágil em uma empresa de meio de pagamento pós-pago: estudo de caso na empresa Koin

TCC (graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Campus Araranguá. Curso de Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação.Devido a grande competitividade entre as organiza¸c˜oes a busca por entregar produtos com qualidade e na velocidade que o mercado atualmente exige, faz com que muitas empresas adotem m´etodos que dizem suprir estas necessidades. Os m´etodos ´ageis prometem atender tais requisitos valorizando as pessoas e as intera¸c˜oes entre elas, ao inv´es de focar nos processos e nas ferramentas como as metodologias cl´assicas. E por estes motivos, a empresa Koin resolveu adotar no seu processo de desenvolvimento o Scrum, com o intuito de melhorar a produtividade e a qualidade dos seus produtos. Esta monografia tem como objetivo documentar e analisar os impactos ocasionados pela implanta¸c˜ao de princ´ıpios ´ageis, nos processos e nas pessoas envolvidas acerca dos fatores que influenciam positivamente ou negativamente na implantação.Due to the high competitiveness between organizations Search by delivering quality products and the speed that the market currently demands, causes many companies to adopt methods they say meet these needs. Agile methods promise meet such requirements valuing people and the interactions between them, rather than focusing on the processes and tools such as classical methodologies. And for these reasons, the company decided Koin adopt in its development process Scrum, in order to improve productivity and quality of their products. This monograph focuses on documenting and analyzing the impacts caused by the deployment of agile principles, processes and the people involved about the factors that influence positively or negatively on the implementation

Situation awareness approach to context-aware case-based decision support.

Context-aware case-based decision support systems (CACBDSS) use the context of users as one of the features for similarity assessment to provide solutions to problems. The combination of a context-aware case-based reasoning (CBR) with general domain knowledge has been shown to improve similarity assessment, solving domain specific problems and problems of uncertain knowledge. Whilst these CBR approaches in context awareness address problems of incomplete data and domain specific problems, future problems that are situation-dependent cannot be anticipated due to lack of data by the CACBDSS to make predictions. Future problems can be predicted through situation awareness (SA), a psychological concept of knowing what is happening around you in order to know the future. The work conducted in this thesis explores the incorporation of SA to CACBDSS. It develops a framework to decouple the interface and underlying data model using an iterative research and design methodology. Two new approaches of using situation awareness to enhance CACBDSS are presented: (1) situation awareness as a problem identification component of CACBDSS (2) situation awareness for both problem identification and solving in CACBDSS. The first approach comprises of two distinct parts; SA, and CBR parts. The SA part understands the problem by using rules to interpret cues from the environment and users. The CBR part uses the knowledge from the SA part to provide solutions. The second approach is a fusion of the two technologies into a single case-based situation awareness (CBSA) model for situation awareness based on experience rather than rule, and problem solving predictions. The CBSA system perceives the users context and the environment and uses them to understand the current situation by retrieving similar past situations. The futures of new situations are predicted through knowledge of the history of similar past situations. Implementation of the two approaches in flow assurance control domain to predict the formation of hydrate shows improvements in both similarity assessment and problem solving predictions compared to CACBDSS without SA. Specifically, the second approach provides an improved decision support in scenarios where there are experienced situations. In the absence of experienced situations, the second approach offers more reliable solutions because of its rule-based capability. The adaptation of the user interface of the approaches to the current situation and the presentation of a reusable sequence of tasks in the situation reduces memory loads on operators. The integrated research-design methodology used in realising these approaches links theory and practice, thinking and doing, achieving practical as well as research objectives. The action research with practitioners provided the understanding of the domain activities, the social settings, resources, and goals of users. The user-centered design process ensures an understanding of the users. The agile development model ensures an iterative work, enables faster development of a functional prototype, which are more easily communicated and tested, thus giving better input for the next iteration

Intégrer une approche de conception centrée utilisateur à une approche agile de développement logiciel

RÉSUMÉ Ce travail traite de l'intégration de l’approche de conception centrée utilisateur (CCU) à une approche agile de développement logiciel, plus spécifiquement à l’approche Scrum. Il présente les éléments clés de chacune des approches et propose une façon pratique de les articuler ensemble pour que le résultat d’intégration soit facile à mettre en oeuvre par les équipes de développement logiciel. Nous faisons ressortir des similarités entre les approches qui favorisent une intégration des pratiques, ainsi que des défis envisagés qu’il est nécessaire de surmonter pour réussir cette intégration. Pour atteindre l’objectif d’intégrer les pratiques de chaque domaine, nous présentons dans un guide destiné aux équipes de développement logiciel, une méthode d’intégrer des activités de CCU à celles de l’approche Scrum. Le guide s’adresse d’abord à des équipes de développement logiciel suivant une approche Scrum, qui désirent intégrer des pratiques de conception centrée utilisateur. Nos expériences à travailler selon une approche Scrum et à tenter d’y appliquer des pratiques de conception centrée utilisateur ont motivé ce travail. La réalisation des projets amenait des questions qui étaient laissées sans réponse satisfaisante par les travaux d’autres auteurs. Certains travaux n’apportaient pas d’éléments de réponse, mais plutôt un argumentaire pour l’intégration des approches. D’autres, qui tentent des pistes de solutions, ne semblent pas pleinement adhérer aux principes d’une approche agile. Malgré ceci, les différents travaux des auteurs apportent des pistes de réponses qui peuvent être mises en commun. Ce sont ces éléments qui ont contribué à concevoir le guide présenté. Le guide proposé comprend 18 activités distinctes qui proviennent autant de l’approche de la CCU que de l’approche Scrum. Il tente de respecter les principes de chaque approche dans le choix des activités et dans la séquence appliquée durant les étapes de conception et de développement d’un logiciel.----------ABSTRACT This work deals with the integration of a user-centered design (UCD) approach to an agile software development approach, specifically the Scrum approach. It starts by describing the key elements of each approach and offers a convenient way to link them together so that the result of integration is easy to implement by software development teams. We highlight similarities between the approaches that promote integration of practices and the challenges to overcome to succeed in this integration. To meet this integration goal, we describe a method to integrate UCD activities with those of the Scrum approach in a guide presented to software development teams. The guide is primarily intended for software development teams using a Scrum approach that wish to integrate user-centered design practices. Our experience working with a Scrum approach and trying to apply user-centered design practices have motivated this work. Projects brought questions that were left without a satisfactory response by the work of other authors. Some work did not lead to answers, but rather brought an argument for the integration of approaches. Others who were trying possible solutions did not to fully endorse the principles of an agile approach. Despite this, the work of different authors contributed some clues that can be brought together. These are the elements that contributed to the design of this guide. The proposed guide includes 18 separate activities. These activities come from both a UCD approach and the Scrum approach. The guide tries to respect the principles of each approach in the choice of activities and sequence of steps applied during the design and development software

User experience design and agile development : integration as an on-going achievement in practice

This research investigates how Agile development is combined with User Experience (UX) design. Agile development and UX design have roots in different disciplines and practitioners have to reconcile their perspectives on developing software if they are to work together. To date, there has been no sustained academic study on how Agile developers and UX designers work together in practical settings on a day-to-day basis. The ethnographically-informed research in this dissertation consists of three studies of teams in organisational settings, combined with an analysis of accounts of Agile development and UX design practice found in the literature. Together, they provide evidence for the complex, multifaceted nature of the work that integrates Agile development with UX design. The studies of day-to-day practice conducted for this research, found the work of the Agile developers and UX designers to be localised, contingent and purposeful. Agile devolopment and UX design integration, as it was achieved in the teams studied, was negotiated and achieved on a day-to-day basis between the developers and designers. The findings from the analysis of accounts of practice from the literature show that integration is achieved with the right tools, techniques and processes that coordinate between the tasks of the developers and designers and establish a focus on usability and on releasing working software. However, the accounts contain little and conflicting evidence for what constitutes the day-to-day work of Agile developers and UX designers in practical settings and as a result the utility of tools, techniques and processes for practice is not clear. Informed by the findings from the accounts in the literature and the studies of practice, five facets emerged as integral to an understanding of how the integration of Agile development and UX design is an on-going achievement in practice. These facets are (1) focus and coordination, (2) mutual awareness, (3) expectations about acceptable behaviour, (4) negotiating progress and (5) engaging with each other. The extent to which these facets enable integration, depend on contextual values concerning the combination of Agile development and UX design endorsed in the organisation. These findings serve to establish conditions which can constrain and enable Agile developers and UX designers in their integration work, while being sympathetic to the values embedded in the settings in which they work

Agile/UX Integration: : how user experience-related practices and processes are integrated with Agile development processes in real-world projects

The research presented in this thesis provides empirical data on how work practices and processes related to user experience (UX) are integrated with Agile software development processes in real-world projects. Agile processes do not inherently provide rules or guidelines for how or when UX-related activities should be conducted, and the Agile/UX integration field of study investigates how the two may best be combined. Five case studies have been conducted as part of the research. Two of the cases focus on integration in Scrum projects, two focus on integration in Kanban projects, and one focuses on integration in a "general Agile" project. All of the cases involve multi-year projects with mature Agile teams. As the Kanban process is fairly new in a software development context, little empirical research exists in this area in general, and previous empirical studies of Agile/UX integration in Kanban projects have not been found. Detailed descriptions of all the cases are presented in the Results chapter. A systematic search of relevant literature shows that suggested approaches to Agile/UX integration mostly follow the "parallel track" model, in which developers and UX designers work in separate, parallel tracks. Designs and specifications are created one or more cycles/sprints ahead of development, and completed features are validated and tested one or more cycles/sprints after development. A short up-front analysis/design phase is usually recommended. Effective use of the model requires using "lightweight" UX techniques like paper/low-fidelity prototype testing, RITE testing, lightweight Personas and informal cognitive walkthroughs. The study results suggest that the parallel track model is better suited to describe integration in settings where fixed time boxes are used, as in Scrum, than in settings where time boxes are flexible, as in Kanban. Future work in this area may benefit from developing and using additional, alternative models to describe and study integration. A set of general advice targeted at process designers based on study results is presented in the last chapter. An important element to be considered when designing an Agile process is to allow for design iteration based on feedback from UX testing and evaluation. Ideally, the process should have a built-in loop at regular intervals for gathering feedback and for acting on the results

Factors for successful Agile collaboration between UX designers and software developers in a complex organisation

User Centred Design (UCD) and Agile Software Development (ASD) processes have been two extremely successful methods for software development in recent years. However, both have been repeatedly described as frequently putting contradictory demands on people working with the respective processes. The current research addresses this point by focussing on the crucial relationship between a User Experience (UX) designer and a software developer. In-depth interviews, an online survey, a contextual inquiry and a diary study are described from a sample of over 100 designers, developers and their stakeholders (managers) in a large media organisation exploring factors for success in Agile development cycles. The findings from the survey show that organisational separation is challenge for agile collaboration between the two roles and while designers and developers have similar levels of (moderately positive) satisfaction with Agile processes, there are differences between the two roles. While developers are happier with the wider teamwork but want more access to and close collaboration with designers, particularly in an environment set up for Agile practices, the designers’ concern was the quality of the wider teamwork. The respondent’s comments also identified that the two roles saw a close – and ideally co-located – cooperation as essential for improving communication, reducing inefficiencies, and avoiding bad products being released. These results reflected the findings from the in-depth interviews with stakeholders. In particular, it was perceived that co-located pairing helped understanding different role-dependent demands and skills, increased efficiency of prototyping and implementing changes, and enabling localised decision-making. However, organisational processes, the setup of work-environment, and managerial traditions meant that this close collaboration and localised decision-making was often not possible to maintain over extended periods. Despite this, the studies conducted between pairs of designers and developers, found that successful collaboration between designers and developers can be found in a complex organisational setting. From the analysis of the empirical studies, six contributing factors emerged that support this. These factors are 1) Close proximity, 2) Early and frequent communication, 3) Shared ideation and problem solving, 4) Crossover of knowledge and skills, 5) Co-creation and prototyping and 6) Making joint decisions. These factors are crucially determined and empowered by the support from the organisational setting and 3 teams where practitioners work. Specifically, by overcoming key challenges to enable integration between UCD and ASD and thus encouraging close collaboration between UX designers and software developers, these challenges are: 1) Organisational structure and team culture, 2) Location and environmental setup and 3) Decision-making. These challenges along with the six factors that enable successful Agile collaboration between designers and developers provide the main contributions of this research. These contributions can be applied within large complex organisations by adopting the suggested ‘Paired Collaboration Manifesto’ to improve the integration between UCD and ASD. Beyond this, more empirical studies can take place, further extending improvements to the collaborative practices between the design and development roles and their surrounding teams