Exploration of User-Centered Agile Development Practices

During the past decade, there has been a growing interest in how to integrate user-centered approaches in agile processes. This study researches the topic of Norwegian user-centered agile development through an exploratory interview study. Insight is given into how agile developers understand user-centered design, regard proposed integration models and perceive multidisciplinary cooperation and integration. The impression is that fundamental principles of agile and user-centered methodologies are not necessarily merged in integrated approaches. Findings suggest proposed parallel integration models are generally well received among developers, however the success of merged models seems to rest heavily on comfortable project constraints. An interesting insight from the study is how proposed parallel models may be disadvantageous to interdisciplinary collaboration in multidisciplinary teams.