In This Video

Much of the agile manifesto emphasized the importance of the human aspects of software development. In practice, however, even as agile methods have become ubiquitous, human aspects are often overlooked. For example, studies show customer collaboration is often avoided, and interaction designers seldom work together with programmers. New approaches such as DevOps too easily ignore the possible to better connect the people involved. Of course, human behaviour is challenging: complex, subtle, and only imperfectly understood. However, applying what we do know can lead to important opportunities. This presentation will review experience in studying the human side of agile methods, examining areas of success and failure, and identifying principles to support improvement.

About the Speaker(s)

Robert Biddle is a Professor in the School of Computer Science and Institute of Cognitive Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. His research is in Software Design and Human-Computer Interaction. His current research projects are on usable security, especially authentication and security decision-making, and on human factors in software design and development. Robert has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, a PhD from the University of Canterbury, and has diplomas in both childhood and adult education.