Testing The Limits of Agile with Design Research
Agile has proven itself invaluable to the world of software development. Yet it's impossible to author one of agile's foundational artifacts, a user story, without first understanding its protagonist—the user who desires the new capability you’re building. What can we do to identify with this customer? We can test the limits of agile. Andrew Maier will introduce two types of design research—generative research (such as user interviews) and evaluative research (such as usability testing)—and show how they inform the stories we author and the problems we solve.
Andrew Maier is an independent public interest designer who works with government agencies to mature their design practices. He is also a professor, teaching human-machine interaction and usability testing as part of the Maryland Institute College of Art’s master’s in UX design program. Andrew is the cofounder of two publications, UX Booth and Civic Quarterly, and recently completed a four-year term at 18F after working as a 2014 Code for America Fellow. He lives in Washington, DC’s, Glover Park neighborhood.