 |
AgileRemote® |
Please visit me at my new website: JFKelley.com
AgileRemote.com is the umbrella hosting domain for a number of corporate design prototypes, not-for-profit, and scientific websites administered by John F. ("Jeff") Kelley, Ph.D., CHFP.
Please use the "contact me" link below to find the prototype or website you are looking for or to inquire about incorporating the AgileRemote service into your own software development efforts.
"AgileRemote" is a consulting service which Jeff offers within the context of a much broader set of services offered by Jeff's (previous) employer, IBM Interactive.
The core of the AgileRemote consulting service is a methodology and companion set of software tools created by Dr. Kelley to bring collaborative, user-centered design concepts into
all phases of a development project:
- Business Requirements Brainstorming/Prioritization (the "Push")
- User Requirements Brainstorming/Prioritization (the "Pull")
- Competitive Analysis
- Conceptual Modeling (with direct feeds from #1 and #2 above)
- Iterative Design based on table-driven, high-fidelity, rapid prototyping and task-driven user testing (with direct feeds from #1, #2, and #4 above)
- Direct exports from prototypes to development environments
- Post-rollout evaluation/analytics for re-design/augmentation
AgileRemote was conceived in 2007, while Dr. Kelley was co-chair of the IBM User Experience + Agile workgroup to address a common question within Agile Software Development community:
"How can the tools of the User Experience/Usability practitioner possibly be brought to bear in the short timeframes afforded by the demanding Agile iteration schedule?"
The solution proposed by Dr. Kelley was to employ table-driven, rapid prototyping techniques in conjunction with remote usability testing and collaboration, combined with
a system of "look-ahead" planning to support short iteration cycles. The collaborative tables that populate the prototype can either be shared Excel files or mashups of
Google Spreadsheets.
The use of table-driven prototyping also had the effect of addressing two other positions commonly (and strongly) held among "agilistas":
-
It is impossible to collaborate effectively on Agile projects in a remote fashion. Tradition insists on co-location of agile development teams. (This can be a drawback in our
global, telecommuting age).
-
Throw-away, iterative design prototypes are a waste of time; we iterate and test with developed code! (Yahbut, to effectively design a "consumable" user experience,
prototypes must preceed the development of services and developed modules in order to gain holistic feedback about the overall system and navigation workflow. Also,
table-driven prototypes are not necessarily all throw-away code; much can be exported directly into the development environment.)
The discipline required to meet the stringent schedule needs of Agile Software projects also makes the AgileRemote approach ideal for more traditional (partial-waterfall)
development projects.
In 2010, Dr. Kelley won the IBM Global Services Regional Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for his work developing the AgileRemote methdology and tooling.
References
Kelley, John F..
"Over the Waterfall in a Barrel - Adapting Agile Techniques to User Experience in a Non-Agile World"
(Part of panel "User Experience and Agile Development").
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, Santa Monica, CA, Oct 23 2012.
Kelley, John F..
"Agile + Usability Engineering: How one UX Practitioner Is Attempting to Apply User-Centered Design and Hi-Fi Prototyping in Agile Software Projects".
Proceedings of the IBM Academy of Technology - Agile Methods & Practice Conference, Raleigh, NC, 24 June 2008.
Kelley, John F..
"Agile + Usability Engineering: Strange Bedfellows?".
Keynote Address: World Usability Day 2007 Conference, Dayton, OH, 8 November 2007.
contact Jeff