Collaborative events and shared artefacts: agile interaction designers and developers working toward common aims

Agile processes emphasize collaboration. We were interested in studying collaboration in agile teams including interaction designers, since the integration of user interaction design processes and software development processes is still an open issue. This study focused on designer and developer collaborations in the early stages of project work at four workplaces. We found designer-developer collaborations were extensive and we developed a categorization scheme of collaboration forms and artefacts that support this relationship. While some designer-developer collaborations were directed towards planning, which has been extensively researched, a larger part was directed towards realignment work. This latter type of collaborative work took three basic forms: scheduled, impromptu, and chats. Regardless of the form of collaboration, designer-developer interactions were mediated by twelve categories of artefacts. These artefacts helped designers and developers to determine, more specifically, what to create. We discuss the implications of our observations on alignment work for theory and practice