As noted in my first agile worry, I am often scared that features of a given piece of software will be built based on reasons other than user needs. Yesterday I learned that story cards are, indeed, quite user centered.

The format we learned for creating a card is as follows:

As a [ person ]
I’d like to [ action ]
so that [ reason for action ]

This card is used as a discussion piece with clients, and is eventually used by developers to create particular functionality.

What excites me most about these story cards is the fact that right at the start, a person is identified for whom the functionality is important. This means that one cannot simply create a story for a feature that is “cool,” nor one that is simply unneeded. Also, the cards are to be specific, so the user cannot simply be some general party involved, such as “customer,” “client,” “computer user,” etc. User needs are heeded in a feature-by-feature manner, so the people who will eventually use the software simply cannot be ignored.

Now, there are still a number of ways in which a particular piece of software can veer from user-centredness. A bad interface to a set of features, for example, will make all other attempts at user centered design moot. Also, simply because the features of a piece of software have user needs in mind, the package of features may be counter to this spirit. Among other things I hope to learn at TWU is how to apply standard User Experience Design principles to Agile Methods so that the process and product are excellent for the builders and users of software, respectively. Hopefully what I will learn in the coming weeks (not to mention months and years) will help contribute to the growing knowledge in these combined fields.

For the moment, I am excited about agile…keep it comin’.