UX Agile

06 November 2008 | Insights | andy

What happens when a cognitive psychologist + web UI engineer with extensive experience in user research is immersed in a high performance agile team?  Only time will tell…  

With the Scrum Master certification accomplished and a chance to bring Jeff Sutherland in the usability lab, working at VersionOne is providing a Ivy League education in Agile methodologies.

Here’s a quick excerpt with Sutherland in the lab:

Looking at a photo of a rugby scrum in which all but two opposing players have been rendered in black and white, Jeff says “Interesting use of color” while I say “Interesting use of black and white”.

Jeff’s more correct than I.  While I know the creator of the photo took the color away in an image manipulation program, Jeff is focused on the subjective experience of being drawn to the colored players amidst a background of black and white.  Thinking in terms of the underlying componentry over the user experience is definitely a bad recipe, but does the increased role of the user in Agile day to day affairs outweigh the limits placed on cohesive and data driven design?

My initial couple months with Agile haven’t convinced me either way, but I’ll let you know.  Certainly, the staus quo of UX design in agile methodologies is in need of a shakeup.