Why our rush to build software faster sacrifices quality and treats software like fast food In August 2007, I was lucky enough to be able to edit an issue of…
Category: Articles
Struggling to Get into Shu Business
Why it’s taken me years to explain simple things simply Originally Published: 7/18/2007 Shu Ha Ri explains how we learn I’ve often found the terms Shu, Ha, and Ri useful…
The UCD Perspective Before and After Agile
In this paper, Heather Williams and Andrew Furguson describe performing lightweight usability testing electronically with customers over a long distance. It’s a minor point of a strong paper that gives…
Dirty Hands Required
Why user experience people need to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in development to get the best results. 4/2/2007 In an email exchange with a friend…
Requirements Considered Harmful
Why requirements in software development harm collaboration, stunt innovation, and threaten the quality of our products. 03/18/2007 “Software development has been steered wrong by the word ‘requirement,’ defined in the…
Collaborative Cardplay
Summary: Ever find yourself spinning in a conversation where the discussion of ideas gets stuck in a circuitous route? In the world of software development, where the need to effectively…
The Mystery of the Shrinking Story
How the push to reduce story size pulls us farther from user goals and forces more up-front-design into Agile processes 2/21/2007 I’ve noticed a troubling trend in Agile Development over…
Before, During, and After-people
an unfair characterization of user experience professionals 1/3/2007 Three personalities in the user experience community This article is about how I stereotype people in the user experience community. It’s not…
Designing Software for Two-headed People
12/28/2006 Two heads I have two heads… and so do you. When I’m making a decision to buy or use a product, I use my buyer head. I try to…
Late Projects Caused By Poor Estimation and Other Red Herrings
12/08/2006 I’ve been seeing a pattern lately with Agile projects. It’s not a new pattern. It’s one we’ve all likely seen on more traditional development projects for years. The story…