You don’t need to be on the product design team to have an interest in user experience. Putting the user first is part of all of our jobs in software and product development, as important as putting the customer first is to a business or service. User centered design (UCD) is the beating heart of all good product development so it’s beneficial for everybody in the team to develop a solid understanding of its principals and to put the user first at every opportunity.
I recently moved teams and role following a company restructure and merger, which led me to reflect on my last three years. One of the reasons I had taken the role was to gain more experience in agile product development. I’d worked in open source product development for over a decade, and on a number of agile projects, but in order to grow and develop as a software engineer and technology lead, I wanted more direct experience of product development and technology leadership with a small, agile scrum team.
