Double dose of agile -- Agile Methods and User Centered Design: The Common Denominators

[Meredith Noble]

Hi again everyone,

For those of you who just can't get enough discussion about agile &
user experience, we thought we'd let you know that two of our panel
members, Dave Robertson and John Johnston of ThoughtWorks, are giving
a talk Tuesday morning. It's free to attend, and there are still spots
available! Details below.

Meredith

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ThoughtWorks' User Experience Expert, Dave Robertson, and senior
business analyst, John Johnston, will give talks in Toronto and
Calgary, Canada on the subject of marrying Agile and User Centered
Design best practices. For more details see below or visit
http://www.thoughtworks.com/what-we-say/events/tech-briefing_ca.html.

One of the most important ways to create valuable software is to
empower people. Agile practices empower development teams and their
customers to create software that delivers real value for the
business. User centered design (UCD) practices empower designers to
create useful, usable and compelling experiences for people who use
software. Agile and UCD are highly complimentary, yet many
practitioners still struggle with integrating these practices and
there is a common impression that agile and UCD donít work well
together. Too many agile projects produce poor user interface and too
many user experience projects run over time and budget.

There is a better way. Agile methods and UCD share goals and values -
a commitment to iteration, value and quality are examples of common
denominators that form a foundation on which designers and developers
can integrate these practices successfully. But they must be willing
to challenge preconceptions about their methods, deliverables and
roles to succeed.

The Toronto talk runs 8.00am - 9.30am, Tuesday 20 January 2009, Park
Hyatt Toronto Hotel, 4 Avenue Road. To register visit
http://www.thoughtworks.com/what-we-say/events/register-tor_ca0109.html