Researchware, Inc.

Brian David Fox utilized HyperRESEARCH for his qualitative study that was the basis of his Masters of Science in Computer Science thesis from the University of Calgary. The thesis, entitled "Agile Methods and User-Centered Design: How These Two Methodologies are Being Integrated in Industry" reveals approaches and pitfalls in the combining of AGILE and User-Centered Design methodologies for software development.

In the abstract of the thesis, the author notes "Agile development approaches and User-Centered Design (UCD) both strive to build software that meets the customer’s or user’s needs. For many software applications, a user interface (UI) that is usable adds value for the users. Recently, there has been some evidence that suggests that practicing agile methods alone does not ensure that an application’s UI is usable for the user. As a result there has been interest in combining agile methods with UCD practices. This research presents the results of a qualitative empirical study to contribute to an understanding of how these two methodologies are being effectively combined. The results present a general process model, we call the Agile-UCD General Process Model (AUGPM), and three refinements of the AUGPM. We call these the Specialist Refinement, Generalist Refinement, and the Facilitator Refinement. The results also present when participants felt the UCD practitioner should be brought into an agile methods development process."

The full text PDF of the thesis can be downloaded here.