Answer to Question #245500 in Software Engineering for kofi

Question

 

3.It has been suggested that one of the problems of having a user closely involved with a software development team is that they “go native”. That is, they adopt the outlook of the development team and lose sight of the needs of their user colleagues. Suggest three ways how you might avoid this problem and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

Answer 1

The three ways are below.

1) Limit the time spent with the developers (pros: users will not lose the perspective. Cons: users will miss details of the development)

2) Give the users tasks implying interaction with the system in the development (pros: will not lose sight of the needs of their user colleagues. Cons: will probably be less able to influence the process of development)

3) Make the developers pay user's attention to specific features related to users (pros: will not lose the sight of the users. Cons: the developers may be distracted from the development).