Disputerer på metoder for software-utvikling

Grupper som bruker «usability» arbeider for å gjøre bruken av en menneskeskapt ting enklere – for eksempel software eller for den del en dørklinke – gjennom design og analyse av bruk. «Agile systems development» beskriver en arbeidsmetode for utvikling av software der team med forskjellig kompetanse organiserer seg selv og utvikler programmene etter hverrt som problemstillinger og muligheter oppstår.

Adeola Yetunde Wale-Kolade disputerer med avhandlingen «Integrating Usability Work into Agile Systems Development” på Fakultet for samfunnsvitenskaps doktorgradsprogram med spesialisering i informasjonssystemer.

Sørlandets kompetansefond har finansiert stipendiatperioden.

Slik beskriver kandidaten selv essensen i avhandlingen:

Integrating usability work into agile systems development

For the past decade, agile software development has proved beneficial for helping software organisations deliver, on schedule, high quality software that satisfies stakeholder needs.

Sadly, usability – a reference to how easy it is to use a user interface, is a feature not adequately addressed by the agile software development approach. This shortcoming has resulted in significant research interest into how product usability might be achieved through the incorporation of usability work into agile software development.

In view of what has been described as the anecdotal nature of the existing research on the integration of usability work into agile development, there have been calls for rigorous studies in order to obtain a more accurate representation of how this integration is being achieved in the software industry.

Thesis contribution

This thesis contributes to this discussion by examining how usability work is being integrated into agile software development in three different software organisations. The data collections techniques that have been used in these cases are semi-structured interviews and, where possible, these have been supplemented with project-related documents.

Three patterns describing how usability work is being integrated into agile software development have resulted from these examinations. These three patterns are the inconsistency, tactical and committed patterns.

The inconsistency pattern refers to when an organisation’s manner of integrating usability work into agile software development contradicts its acknowledgment of the importance of usability work.

The tactical pattern describes how usability practitioners deploy tactics in order to ensure the integration of usability work into agile software development.

Lastly the committed pattern describes an organisation’s commitment to integrating usability work despite conflicting project conditions.

Additional issues also touched upon in this thesis are the collaboration between usability practitioners and agile project teams and how the responsibility for usability work is being addressed in agile projects.

A starting point

In the thesis I conclude by suggesting that these patterns should be seen as a starting point for further examinations on the integration of usability work into agile development.

For one they could indicate a means through which software organisations can progress toward developing a consistent and fruitful approach to integrating usability work into agile development. The patterns could also inform studies on project conditions which would need to be present in order to ensure the integration of usability work into agile software development.

Disputasfakta:

Kandidaten: Adeola Yetunde Wale-Kolade ble født i Jos, Nigeria i 1980. Hun tok BSc ved University of Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria og MSc ved Strathclyde University, Glasgow. Ved UiA har hun vært stipendiat med finansiering fra Sørlandets kompetansefond. 

Prøveforelesning og disputas finner sted i Auditorium CK B2 003, Campus Kristiansand

Dekan Sigbjørn Sødal leder disputasen.

Tid for prøveforelesning: Torsdag 10. september 2015 kl 10:15

Oppgitt emne for prøveforelesning: Systems development methods and the varying role of the user

Tid for disputas: Torsdag 10. september 2015 kl 12:15

Tittel på avhandling: “Integrating Usability Work into Agile Systems Development”

Søk etter avhandlingen i AURA - Agder University Research Archive, som er et digitalt arkiv for vitenskapelige artikler, avhandlinger og masteroppgaver fra ansatte og studenter ved Universitetet i Agder. AURA blir jevnlig oppdatert.

Opponenter:

Førsteopponent: Professor Netta Iivari, Department of Information Processing Science, University of Oulu, Finland

Annenopponent: Professor Helen Sharp, Computing and Communications Department, The Open University, England

Bedømmelseskomitéen er ledet av professor Maung K. Sein, Institutt for informasjonssystemer, UiA

Veileder i doktorgradsarbeidet var professor Peter Axel Nielsen, Aalborg universitet og professor Tero Paivarinta, Luleå tekniska universitet