Title: Surviving and thriving as a UX professional in an Agile development organization

Date: Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Time: 6:00pm
Place: TheCodeFactory, 246 Queen St., Ottawa

New: Slides can be found here… http://slidesha.re/b5tdE7

Abstract:

Over the last decade, the Agile movement has been sweeping the world of software development by storm. Agile is more than a methodology – it’s a mindset that emphasizes cross-functional teamwork over following a process, working software over comprehensive documentation, and responding to change over up-front planning.

Given this radical change of focus compared to traditional software development methods, user experience and usability professionals working with Agile development teams are faced with the task of adapting their activities, deliverables, and even their own role to this new worldview.

Many Agile principles, such as continuous user feedback and iterative development, are familiar to UX professionals. Others, such as the focus on efficiency and time-boxed iterations, the lack of explicit accommodation for up-front research and design, and the often ill-defined role of the Customer, can present challenges.

In this talk, Dmitry will examine these challenges in the context of his own experiences working as a user experience designer alongside Agile development teams. He will also present a set of simple guiding principles for enabling UX professionals to engage in high-quality collaboration with development teams within the framework of an Agile development process.

Speaker Bio:

Dmitry Nekrasovski is currently a user experience designer with Open Text, Canada’s largest independent software vendor. Since 2006, he has worked in a UX capacity on projects involving Agile development teams, successfully driving significant user experience improvements in the process. His own experience with Agile dates back to 2002, when, in his former life as a software developer, he attended one of the first Agile workshops. Dmitry holds a M.Sc. in HCI from the University of British Columbia and a degree in computer science from Carleton University.

When and Where:

This event will take place on Tuesday, April 20, 6:00pm at TheCodeFactory, located at 246 Queen Street, between Bank and Kent, (on the second floor) above the Green Papaya Restaurant.

Note: there is no cost for attending this event and prior registration is not required. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. An informal social gathering will follow at a nearby pub.

Who:

CapCHI is a social and professional society of people who work as user interface designers, researchers, educators, software developers, web designers, graphic designers and human factors engineers in and around Canada’s National Capital Region. Founded in 1991, CapCHI’s goal is to bring together local professionals interested in how humans and computers interact, in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.