Integrating User-Centered Design Practices into Agile Web Development: A Case Study

In this study we empirically investigate the integration of User-Centered Design (UCD) practices into agile Web development. We propose a hybrid process framework which extends the agile development process, adding lightweight usability engineering practices. We conducted a case study in academia with postgraduate students to empirically evaluate the impact of the hybrid process to the quality of the web products, based on a defect quality analysis through the development phases from user stories gathering up to delivery of the products. The statistical analysis of the quantitative data showed a great improvement in the distribution of the closing-defects across the development phases and full reduction of the defects number, leading to increased quality.