In the beginning there was Waterfall software development. Heavy on planning, short on adaptability, Waterfall ultimately gave way to Agile. Agile is fast and adaptive. But Agile often moves quickly toward goals that may be poorly defined or even understood. At the same time, Human-Centered Design (HCD), with its research, design, and testing methods — while great at providing understanding — is often too slow or too siloed from development to be practical. So what’s the right approach?
A melding. The best of both worlds. A hybrid approach. Enter HCDAgile.
HCDAgile allows you to design and develop solutions by involving the human in all aspects of the process. HCDAgile involves upfront discovery and a right-sized team of trained Agile engineers and human-centered designers who work together throughout the project to build the right thing, the right way.
Our HCDAgile Process
Discovery
Before the first line of code is written, our HCDAgile team takes time — not a lot, but enough to get going — to learn some critical information:
- What are your goals? What are the goals of your business?
- Who are the humans affected? Employees? Customers? Partners? What are their needs?
- What technologies will help realize their visions?
A shared vision for the product becomes the North Star that will be followed throughout the project.
Delivery
Our HCDAgile teams consist of trained, experienced Agile engineers and human-centered designers who work in tight coordination with one another, and with your product owner, to systematically design and develop the solution. A product roadmap is created and the product backlog is groomed and prioritized. Everything is designed and validated with the ongoing input of users.
Transition
When the project is complete, our HCDAgile team executes an orderly transition of the product design and code. Everything we have learned, designed, and built is handed off to the business stakeholders.