Towards a Framework for Integrating Agile Development and User-Centred Design

Due to a number of similarities between user-centred design (UCD) and agile development, coupled with an appreciation that developers are rarely usability experts, it seems attractive to integrate these two approaches. However, although agile methods share some of the same aims as UCD, there are also distinct differences. These differences have made the use of these methods on development projects problematic. This paper reports a field study designed to investigate the use of agile methods alongside UCD in one particular organization. The aim of the study was to develop a framework for use by project teams wishing to integrate UCD practices with agile development. The study, its findings and five principles for integrating UCD and agile development arising from this work are discussed.