UCD and AGILE Process

I want to share a important aspect of UCD and AGILE Process ( AGILE has been gaining popularity in software development )

The main reason we can do a good job is if we are 3 weeks ahead of the sprint.

Which means if a specific module has to start coding on May 1st we should have started working on wireframes 3 weeks before (in April 2nd week).

Week 1 - week to undertand requirements and give the first wireframe set

Week 2 – Showcase to product management / general SME / Users ( in some projects there are no users involved ) it may be given to 1 user as a Beta release.

Weeks 3 – Iterate Iterate Irerate till we get it right

Week 4 beginning – Development team has the wireframes

To better understand what I meant you should read this article… as I was able to relate to it

http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/bringing-user

UCD and Agile can work together if we have a 3 week head-start before coding (or sprint) begins.

This way while the coding is done for one module (1 sprint is ideally 3 weeks work in my project) we start wireframes for the next module.

The developers have wireframes for reference and UX is not pressured in a Agile Environment.

in reference to: Bringing User Centered Design to the Agile Environment - Boxes and Arrows: The design behind the design (view on Google Sidewiki)