In agile software development, “user stories” acknowledge the importance of the user but how can we know that the needs the stories represents are genuine and valuable? Stuart Curran looks at how user stories can be improved by using mental models to align them with real behaviour.
On the flipside, he also considers how generative user research can benefit from a lean approach and show that many of the techniques are similar to those used in a typical agile project.
This talk is aimed at anyone who is looking for practical ways to bridge the gaps between traditional research and agile practices by focussing on activities that hold common value for both.
Stuart is a UX/strategy guy with a background in information architecture, interface design and project management. He currently works as a Lead Consultant at ThoughtWorks, the agile software folks. Before that he spent 6 years working in advertising and a further 7 years in web design.
