Extreme Programming vs. Interaction Design. Quote: "Kent Beck is known as the father of "extreme programming," a process created to help developers design and build software that effectively meets user expectations. Alan Cooper is the prime proponent of interaction design, a process with similar goals but different methodology. We brought these two visionaries together to compare philosophies, looking for points of consensus--and points of irreconcilable difference. "

Comment: Very interesting conversation, indeed. [Serious Instructional Technology]

To a large extent Beck and Cooper spend most of their time in this conversation talking past each other. Cooper nails the design problem when he points out that we don't have anyone operating in the role that a real-world architect adopts in bridging between the vague and ill-formed needs of a user and the engineering constraints on a builder. While we talk about technology architects, there really aren't very many out there.

What we have instead are some good general contractors trying to fill the shoes of an architect. But contractors are rooted in the world of construction. They aren't trained to and don't see the more complex objectives that the end user is trying to meet.

4:36:14 PM •  • comment