2024

Hasan Md Tanvir; Wolff Annika; Knutas Antti

Agile software development processes, especially Scrum, have become more common in the software industry due to the fundamental principles that focus on speed and communication. However, it is noteworthy that even though the Scrum framework emphasizes frequent stakeholder involvement, the involvement of end users is often not a primary focus within organizations using Scrum, nor is usability a high-priority task. In the worst cases, the result is a low-quality product that is unable to meet user needs. To better understand the role of end users and how usability issues are handled in Scrum processes in practice, we performed interviews with professionals practicing Scrum, focusing on two areas: 1) the role of end users and their involvement in the Scrum process, 2) the importance of usability and usability evaluation techniques used in practice. Our results identify four novel anti- patterns in organizations using Scrum: 1) Involvement of end user is not mandatory, and a customer maybe used to represent an end user; 2) Product demonstration occurs with no end user involvement; 3) Low focus on usability and usability is often ignored; 4) No formal usability techniques used in Scrum process. Based on our interviews we discuss the reasoning of why certain practices are performed by a Scrum practitioner. Finally, the study is subject to several limitations that have also been addressed.