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Usability definitely seems to be one of those expanding possibilities. Having resolved the most serious glitches in their software engineering processes, teams seem to have more energy to spend with their users. Innovators in the Agile community are focusing on usability
Kathy Sierra recently envisioned software that’s not just usable, but SO usable it’s transparent. Its users becomes immersed in the task at hand, as the software empowers them to handle the challenges of their work, without intrusive distractions, workarounds and constraints. She describes this user experience as “flow”, a term coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to describe complete and energized focus in an activity, with a high level of enjoyment and fulfillment.
Alistair Cockburn, in his recently revised “Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game” specifically commented on the difficulties some are encountering with usability:
In some organizations, would-be agile programmers drive the timeline and insist that the UX design be done incrementally in two-week iterations, simultaneously with programming. The UX [user experience] designers complain that there is insufficient time to research their users, create a design, and program it within the two-week window.
Cockburn’s recommendation: adaptation. Teams must address these realities: all stakeholders must collaborate to examine this tension between overall consistency and incremental development. In the end, it’s the familiar prescription for process problems: experiment, reflect and adjust.
More information: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2007/01/what_comes_afte.html
