This is not my expertise area [I'm a librarian working as an analyst,
which effectively means I'm a customer/developer liaison), but I'm happy
to share some insight into the philosophies behind Talis' development
approach.
INTRO: As part of my product owner role in Scrum (see later), and the
massive involvement for customers this entails, I think its incredibly
important librarians I work with (and the profession as a whole) have
more of an understanding of development practices. Firstly, because we
are entering a world where libraries themselves will be getting their
hands dirty, with mash-ups, open-source, etc. Secondly, I feel it makes
a massive difference in improving the quality of relationship with
vendors, providing a shared understanding which results in better
software being delivered. If you want user-centred design (UCD), this
relationship needs to move from evil necessity to collaborative, open
partnership. Having sat on both sides of the wall (librarian and
vendor), it does frustrate/sadden me that these barriers are so slow in
falling.
RESPONSE: I could write forever on this, so I'm going to put some links
in which may give a 101 to get people interested started.
Over recent years, Talis have undergone (and is still undertaking) a
massive shift in how we develop, moving from more traditional
development models I learnt when I started (from waterwall
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall_model to iterative
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iterative_development) to an Agile
approach. The Agile Manifesto (http://www.agilemanifesto.org/) distills
this philosohpy:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
These aren't just words - they need to be embedded into the organisation
culture, and form the first step in facilitating the delivery of UCD.
The Agile Alliance http://www.agilealliance.org/ has some more on what
this means in development theory. In practice, its lots of close-knit
teams (with the customer within them as much as practical!), walls to
draw on and requirements on index cards (which takes me back to the
"good old days" as a reference librarian!). Its also fun.
The second strand in delivering UCD is how projects are managed. We've
apopted a Scrum approach. Our customers are involved throughout the
development lifecycle (before a line of code is written) and
review/feedback on the developing application continually, actively
selecting highest value requirements on an ongoing basis (no sign-off -
the application emerges!). This is essential for UCD - this partnership
between customer and vendor, supported by a project framework (Scrum)
that demands this and a development approach (Agile) that responds to
our dynamic world.
I've done a 16min video presentation on some of this, which (hopefully)
explains customer participation in development in a clear way which
people would find useful http://www.talis.com/tdn/node/1738. This should
show what we do far more effectively than discussing it here, and
provides a useful grounding in Scrum which is useful in many contexts
(any feedback welcome, as my first bash at one of these!)
So, Mark, to answer your question "how much support developers get from
management in supporting (with people, time and money) user-centered
design", I believe it's not about management "supporting" UCD with
"people, time and money" - it's about management making the fundemantal
commitment to reshape the entire development culture so that
user-centred design CAN occur, so that customers and end-users can have
a voice, and that the development practices of the vendor are fluidic
enough to be responsive to delivering on the changing business needs,
goals and features that emerge. At Talis, we're on this road - it's not
perfect, but I do have a spring in my step each day as I finally feel
(as a librarian) I can genuinely deliver software that is valued and
makes a difference to the profession I care so much about.
CONCLUSION: Firstly, I believe successful UCD is about successful
partnerships between vendors, customers and users. It's about
collaboration and communication, and most importantly, it's about
building trust. Secondly, I believe not just vendors would benefit from
looking at Agile and Scrum practices, but those libraries/librarians out
there engaged in the many open source community projects discussed on
this list would benefit too.
Note: About two years ago we were all encouraged to read "The Inmates
Are Running the Asylum" by Alan Cooper, the father of interaction design
and UCD. This is an EASY read I'd recommend to anyone, and really
enjoyable (he writes like "Bill Bryson"!). If you want to get more into
the nuts-and-bolts (still easy read, but more detailed/practical), I'd
suggest "About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design". You can
find both on this search -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/026-2306839-0350835?url=search-
alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Inmates+Are+Running+the+Asylum&Go.x=0&Go.
y=0&Go=Go
-----Original Message-----
From: Next generation catalogs for libraries
[mailto:NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu] On Behalf Of Andrews, Mark J.
Sent: 04 May 2007 14:57
To: NGC4LIB_at_listserv.nd.edu
Subject: [NGC4LIB] Vendor management support for user-centered design
(was "[NGC4LIB] Our Workflow Works against us Was: [NGC4LIB]
user-centered design")
I wonder if some of the software developers working for our vendor
partners, lurking on this list, could share some of their experiences
with user-centered design on the list?
I am particularly interested in how much support developers get from
management in supporting (with people, time and money) user-centered
design. I understand that this is a difficult question to answer
frankly - if that is not possible, that is okay.
Mark Andrews, Creighton University
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Received on Thu May 10 2007 - 12:08:28 EDT