This paper examines the different roles in designing interactive software in a ICT for development context.
Using experiences from a participatory action research project, in which we used agile methods to design and
deploy an system to support ‘agricultural information flow’ for a co-operative of small farmers in rural India, we
identify points of difference between the roles in standard descriptions of agile software methods and the roles as
they emerged in our project. A key finding is the critical role played by a ‘Development Project Manager’ in
facilitating dialogue, orchestrating the activities of other actors and in building the capabilities and confidence of
all the participants in joint action