Martine B. Wedlake

Developing the Product Your Customer Really Wants: The Value of an Agile Partnership

The art of creating software has changed dramatically over the last twenty years, particularly as organizations move from a Waterfall to an Agile development methodology. This study explores the benefits to customers of moving away from traditional Waterfall usability approaches to an integrated development model incorporating elements of Agile, user-centered development, and extended stakeholder feedback from customer councils. Thirty-four customers, seven business partners, and four internal customers participated in a multi-year project where participants were given the option to share product requirements during the early phases of the project, actively engage in monthly project design feedback sessions, or both. Results show that active participation by the customer yields more of their requirements into the final project, especially the high priority requirements. The results suggest that an iterative approach, that is both self-directing and self-correcting, can help teams develop products that are beneficial for both the product and customer.