U-SCRUM: An Agile Methodology for Promoting Usability

SCRUM poses key challenges for usability (Baxter et al., 2008). First, product goals are set without an adequate study of the userpsilas needs and context. The user stories selected may not be good enough from the usability perspective. Second, user stories of usability import may not be prioritized high enough. Third, given the fact that a product owner thinks in terms of the minimal marketable set of features in a just-in-time process, it is difficult for the development team to get a holistic view of the desired product or features. This experience report proposes U-SCRUM as a variant of the SCRUM methodology. Unlike typical SCRUM, where at best a team member is responsible for usability, U-SCRUM is based on our experience with having two product owners, one focused on usability and the other on the more conventional functions. Our preliminary result is that U-SCRUM yields improved usability than SCRUM.