Improving Agile Software Development using User-Centered Design and Lean Startup

Context: Agile methods have limitations concerning problem understanding and solution finding, which can cause organizations to push misguided products and accrue waste. Some authors suggest combining agile methods with discovery-oriented approaches to overcome this, with notable candidates being User-Centered Design (UCD) and Lean Startup, a combination of which there is yet not a demonstrated, comprehensive study on how it works. Objective: To characterize a development approach combination of Agile Software Development, UCD, and Lean Startup; exposing how the three approaches can be intertwined in a single development process and how they affect development. Method: We conducted a case study with two industry software development teams that use this combined approach, investigating them through interviews, observation, focus groups, and a workshop during a nine-month period in which they were stationed in a custom-built development lab. Results: The teams are made up of user advocates, business advocates, and solution builders; while their development approach emphasizes experimentation by making heavy use of build-measure-learn cycles. The combined approach promotes a problem-oriented mindset, encouraging team members to work together and engage with the entire development process, actively discovering stakeholders needs and how to fulfill them. Each of its approaches provide a unique contribution to the development process: UCD fosters empathy with stakeholders and enables teams to better understand the problem they are tasked with solving; Lean Startup introduces experimentation as the guiding force of development; and Extreme Programming (the teams' agile method) provides support to experimentation and achieving technical excellence. Conclusion: The combined approach pushes teams to think critically throughout the development effort. Our practical example provides insight on its essence and might inspire industry practitioners to seek a similar development approach based on the same precepts.