Jeff Patton and Josh Evnin

Agile and IxD

This experiential workshop offers an interaction design-centric crash course in Agile Software Development. After reviewing the essential roles and practices found in a typical Agile project, participants will be immersed in a simulation that lets them experience Agile development first hand. Armed with a strong understanding of the Agile development lifecycle, we'll explore the challenges with incorporating an effective design process. We'll review several of the process patterns and best practices that have emerged in successful Agile-IxD organizations over the past years.

As Agile Software Development continues to grow in popularity, many designers find themselves participants in an Agile process without sufficient guidance. In many cases, Agile development was adopted by the organization without a good understanding of how it would change the designer';s role, and day-to-day work. In the worst of cases user research, interaction design, and usability practices are set aside.In ideal Agile development, each organization tailors their Agile process in a way that best fits their culture, people, and product context. You'll leave this workshop with essential vocabulary, process understanding, and ideas to effectively help your organization tailor an Agile process that doesn't make a strong design practice an afterthought.

Jeff Patton Bio

Jeff Patton has designed and developed software for the past 13 years on a wide variety of projects from on-line aircraft parts ordering to electronic medical records. Jeff has focused on Agile approaches since working on an early Extreme Programming team in 2000. In particular Jeff has specialized in the application of user centered design techniques to improve Agile requirements, planning, and iterative product design and development. Some of his recent writings on the subject are found at www.agileproductdesign.com, Alistair Cockburn's Crystal Clear, and his regular StickyMinds.com and IEEE Software Magazine columns. His forthcoming book "Agile Development Outside-In" will be released in Addison-Wesley's Agile Development Series and gives tactical advise to those seeking to deliver useful, usable, and valuable software using Agile methods. Jeff is the founder and co-moderator of the Yahoo agile-usability discussion group.

Josh Evnin Bio

Josh Evnin designs software for humans, not users. He has done so professionally as a consultant working with clients in various fields, and in his spare time enjoys contributing design work to open source projects. Josh has degrees in Human-Computer Interaction and Cognitive Science, and believes that the only effective way to build software is to consider those who will use the tools in mind at every stage of the design process. Since joining ThoughtWorks in 2006, Josh has been practicing User-Centered Design in the Agile context, and learns something new about creating working, usable software every day. Josh ruminates about software delivery processes, UCD, and life on his blog at josh.ev9.org/weblog.