1. www.flupa.eu
Usability and User-Centered
Design
Agile Tour 2010
Luxembourg
Lou Schwartz
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2. www.flupa.eu
Plan
• Who we are?
• What is usability?
• How to ensure the usability of a software?
• User Centered Design in agile projects
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3. www.flupa.eu
Plan
• Who we are?
• What is usability?
• How to ensure the usability of a software?
• User Centered Design in agile projects
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4. www.flupa.eu
France Luxembourg
Usability Professionals’ Association
• Local chapter of UPA http://www.upassoc.org
– 46 local chapters
– 3055 members in 57 countries
• Objectives of FLUPA
– Promoting usability of HCI
– Increase public awareness of user centered design and
ergonomics approach
– Lead a network of professionals
• Members with various profiles
– Psychologists, ergonomists, designers, software engineers
and developers, communication specialists …
– Professionals, administration, researchers, students, …
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France Luxembourg
Usability Professionals’ Association
• 3 units
– Luxembourg, Grenoble, Paris
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France Luxembourg
Usability Professionals’ Association
Next events
• 3 units
• 11/11 Lux – World
– Luxembourg, Grenoble, Paris Usability day: usability
and communication
• Organization of events
– Breakfast around a theme, World Usability Day, • 17/11 Grenoble –
barbecues, … Breakfast: usability and
video games
• xx/12 Lux – Breakfast:
mock-up design
• xx/01 Paris – Breakfast:
tactile interfaces
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7. www.flupa.eu
France Luxembourg
Usability Professionals’ Association
• 3 units
– Luxembourg, Grenoble, Paris
• Organization of events
– Breakfast around a theme, World Usability Day,
barbecues, …
• Communication
– Web site www.flupa.eu
– Forum http://forum.flupa.eu/phpbb/
– Twitter http://twitter.com/assoFlupa
– Newsletter
– …
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Plan
• Who we are?
• What is usability?
• How to ensure the usability of a software?
• User Centered Design in agile projects
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What is Ergonomics?
Science of designing user interactions
Ergonomics
Usefulness Usability
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Why ergonomics?
• Ensures the usability
– Following the logic of users
– Fulfilling performance,
efficiency criteria
– Understanding the user's
capabilities and limits
http://www.cadfanatic.com/2009/08/solidworks-usability-testing/
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Why ergonomics?
• Ensures the usability
– Following the logic of users
– Fulfilling performance,
efficiency criteria
– Understanding the user's
capabilities and limits
http://www.cadfanatic.com/2009/08/solidworks-usability-testing/
• To avoid accidents/incidents
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What is usability?
• Official definition (ISO 9241-11:1998)
– “The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve
specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified
context of use”
– Effectiveness
– Efficiency
– Satisfaction
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13. www.flupa.eu
Plan
• Who we are?
• What is usability?
• How to ensure the usability of a software?
• User Centered Design in agile projects
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How to ensure the usability of a software?
• User centered design process (ISO 13407)
• Design process that places the user in the middle of the project
• Concentrates the efforts to answer to the user needs/objectives
• Principles
• Active participation of users
• Comprehension of users needs and users tasks
• Develop only what is useful to be supported by the tool
• Development by iterations
• Multidisciplinary
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How to ensure the usability of a software?
Do we need a
• Conducted by a usability UCD approach?
expert
Understand
and specify
• Who uses methods (ISO context of use
16982 and others)
• Observation of users Evaluation of Specify needs of
design / users and objectives
• Evaluation by an expert requirements of organization
• Questionnaires
• Interviews
Propose design
• Card sorting or develop
• Personas software
• Focus groups The system covers the
• … users and organization
requirements
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Plan
• Who we are?
• What is usability?
• How to ensure the usability of a software?
• User Centered Design in agile projects
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UCD vs Agility ?
Compatibilities
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UCD principles – ISO 13407 Agility
Iteration of design solutions Iterative cycle
Iteration of design solutions Iterative cycle
An appropriate allocation of functions between Limits of what has to be develop are defined by the product
users and technology
An appropriate allocation of functions between owner
users and technology Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--
is essential.
The active involvement of users and a clear One user is implied throughout the project (the product owner)
understanding of user and task requirements • Defines requirements
The active involvement of users and a clear • Remembers the context of use
understanding of user and task requirements • Validates the work done
But can imply some users as “chicken”
Multi-disciplinary design
Multi-disciplinary design Few multi-disciplinary only developers and product owner
(business view) at minimum
Agile values But multi-disciplinary is not rejected
UCD
Agile values
Agile values UCD
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Ok
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UCD vs Agility ?
Impediments
Agile values UCD
Individuals and interactions over processes Adapt methods to the agile context
and tools simplify to do them in only one iteration
limit the production of documentation, …
Working software over comprehensive Do only what is necessary
documentation Lighten the results to enhance their impact and usefulness
Don’t need to use great software to do this
Reacting to change over following a plan Light global vision can be defined during the sprint 0
Maybe do an epic during the project on usability to ensure the
homogeneity
Focus on the iteration requirements, don’t try to do all at the
same time
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How to do agile UCD ?
The proposal of adaption the most frequently cited are
• Imply one or more usability expert(s) in your team
• Imply all actors in the team meetings
– Stand up meetings, specifications, demonstrations, …
– Sometimes it is proposed to add interfaces design meetings
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How to do agile UCD ?
• Keep iterative cycle
• Work in parallel but in the same team
– With one sprint of timing delay
– Or in the same sprint, cutting the sprint into 3 phases
• Redefine artefacts of work
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How to do agile UCD ?
• Keep iterative cycle
• Work in parallel but in the same team
– With one sprint of timing delay
– Or in the same sprint, cutting the sprint into 3 phases
• Redefine artefacts of work
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How to do agile UCD ?
• Adapt usability methods to the agile context
– Simplify
– Use only methods usable in agile
– Change the granularity of usability investigations
– Change the reporting of usability investigations
– Possibility to dedicate an epic to the review of the homogeneity
– Use the cycle 0 for usability investigations
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Some good references
• UCD
– Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug (ISBN-10: 0789723107)
– UPA http://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/
• Agile and UCD
– Jean-Claude Grosjean’s Weblog
• http://www.qualitystreet.fr/
• Coaching Agile, Experience Utilisateur, Tests Logiciels et Ergonomie IHM
– Miller, Lynn. Case Study of Customer Input For a Successful Product, Proceedings of the
Agile 2005 conference.
• http://agileproductdesign.com/useful_papers/miller_customer_input_in_agile_projects.p
df
– Sy, Desiree. Adapting Usability Investigations for Agile User-Centered Design., Journal of
Usability Studies, Volume 2, Issue 3, May 2007, pp. 112-132
http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2007may/agile-ucd.html
– Schwartz, L. and al., Comment concilier agilité et conception centrée utilisateurs dans un
projet de développement?, IHM’09, http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1629881#
– Guide d’intégration de CCU à SCRUM (in French, not yet validated)
• http://pyxis-tech.com/fr/expertise/guide-dintegration-de-ccu-a-scrum 23

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Thanks for your attention !
lou.schwartz@tudor.lu
Next events
• 11 Nov, Lux – World Usability day: usability and communication
• 17 Nov, Grenoble – Breakfast: usability and video games
• December, Lux – Breakfast: mock-up design
• January, Paris – Breakfast: tactile interfaces
Contacts
Web site www.flupa.eu
Forum http://forum.flupa.eu/
Twitter @assoFlupa
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