Smarter Software with Activity-Centered Design
Smarter Software with Activity-Centered Design
About the Book
All too often simply the wrong software gets created. It may work but not as the users or stakeholders expected. Or it may solve the wrong problem altogether. Despite the vast improvements in the way how software teams create software since the Agile Manifesto was published in 2001 still many software projects fail in one way or another.
To many, the word design only describes how something looks but in fact it means how it works and looks. Well designed products are created based on a deep understanding of which activities users want to perform and are well engineered. This fitness makes these products superior to their competition and in some cases such products shake up an entire industry.
Activity-Theory traces its roots back to the thoughts of Goethe, Kant and Hegel. Being used by Russian and Finnish psychologists in the field of learning and children development it now is slowly finding its way into Interaction and Software Design.
This book shows how Activity Theory can be used to create smarter software. You will learn how a sucessful software development team can effectively work with users and stakeholders to deliver high quality solutions.
About the Author
Table of Contents
- Frequent Feedback Desired
- Preface
- About Software Development
- Activity Theory
- Human Activity, Actions, And Operations
- Learning And Development
- The Being of Software
- Tests Are Software Too
- Quality
- Software Product Design
- Activity-Centered Design
- Acquisition of Knowledge Through Design
- Speed
- Building Software Is Cheap - Designing Software Is Expensive
- Analysis, Design, Deployment
- Why Software Design Is Expensive
- The World Software Exists In
- Actions and Activities
- The Relationship Between Activity And Action
- Mediating Tools
- Business Activity And Action
- User Actions And Tasks
- System Action
- Operations
- Maps
- Maps Of The Physical World
- Ontological Maps
- Mapping Actions And Activities
- Domain Language
- Activities And Actions
- Roles And Standard Practices
- Common Issues And Breakdowns
- Concerns, Interests And Fears Of Domain Actors
- Applying Activity-Centered Design
- From Understanding Activities to User Stories
- User Stories
- Focus On The Outcome
- Discover Personas
- Validate Story Ideas Against an Activity System
- Story Map To Guide The Implementation
- Isn’t that upfront design?
- Discoveries During Implementation
- Finding Acceptance Criteria
- Define ticket types
- Buying a ticket to the Wizbang conference
- Putting It Together
- Review Of User-Centered Design
- Focus On Activities And Working Software
- The Activity-Centered Design Loop
- Organizational Structure And Management
- Why Traditional Software Projects Fail
- Too Much Focus On Implementation Or Construction
- Managing People Instead of Projects
- Tunnel Vision of Corporate Requirements Analysts
- Poor Software Quality
- A Team Of Designers
- Being Agile
- Product Owner
- Business Analyst
- Tester
- Programmer
- User Experience Designer
- Influence Of Tools
- Reinforcement Of Silos Due To Tool Choice
- New Rules Based On Tool Choice And Loss Of Main Influencer
- Managing Software Design Projects
- Inception
- Solution Scoping
- Development
- Extension
- Appendix
- Well Working Techniques And Practices
- Test-Driven Design
- Domain-Driven Design
- Acceptance Test-Driven Development
- Walking Skeleton
- Comics
- Bibliography
Authors have earned$10,247,807writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub, earning 80% royalties while saving up to 25 million pounds of CO2 and up to 46,000 trees.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
The Leanpub 45-day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 45 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
See full terms
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers), EPUB (for phones and tablets) and MOBI (for Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
Top Books
- #1
500 QUIZ MMG COMMENTATI
ALS Medicina Generale500 Quiz degli ULTIMI Concorsi di Medicina Generale (2014/2016/2017/2018/2019)
Riassunti e suddivisi per area con Griglia risposte vuota e Griglia risposte esatte Ministeriale
Commentati con link alla fonte per approfondimento e ausilio allo studio
- #2
C++20
Rainer GrimmC++20 is the next big C++ standard after C++11. As C++11 did it, C++20 changes the way we program modern C++. This change is, in particular, due to the big four of C++20: ranges, coroutines, concepts, and modules.
- #3
Functional Design and Architecture
Alexander GraninSoftware Design in Functional Programming, Design Patterns and Practices, Methodologies and Application Architectures. How to build real software in Haskell with less efforts and low risks. The first complete source of knowledge.
- #4
Atomic Kotlin
Bruce Eckel and Svetlana IsakovaFor both beginning and experienced programmers! From the author of the multi-award-winning Thinking in C++ and Thinking in Java together with a member of the Kotlin language team comes a book that breaks the concepts into small, easy-to-digest "atoms," along with exercises supported by hints and solutions directly inside IntelliJ IDEA!
- #5
R Programming for Data Science
Roger D. PengThis book brings the fundamentals of R programming to you, using the same material developed as part of the industry-leading Johns Hopkins Data Science Specialization. The skills taught in this book will lay the foundation for you to begin your journey learning data science. Printed copies of this book are available through Lulu.
- #6
Ansible for DevOps
Jeff GeerlingAnsible is a simple, but powerful, server and configuration management tool. Learn to use Ansible effectively, whether you manage one server—or thousands.
- #7
Algebra-Driven Design
Sandy MaguireA how-to field guide on building leak-free abstractions and algebraically designing real-world applications.
- #8
Thinking with Types
Sandy MaguireThis book aims to be the comprehensive manual for type-level programming. It's about getting you from here to there---from a competent Haskell programmer to one who convinces the compiler to do their work for them.
- #9
C++ Best Practices
Jason TurnerLevel up your C++, get the tools working for you, eliminate common problems, and move on to more exciting things!
- #10
Stratospheric
Tom Hombergs, Björn Wilmsmann, and Philip RiecksFrom Zero to Production with Spring Boot and AWS. All you need to know to get a Spring Boot application into production with AWS. No previous AWS knowledge required.
Top Bundles
- #1
Software Architecture for Developers: Volumes 1 & 2 - Technical leadership and communication
2 Books
"Software Architecture for Developers" is a practical and pragmatic guide to modern, lightweight software architecture, specifically aimed at developers. You'll learn:The essence of software architecture.Why the software architecture role should include coding, coaching and collaboration.The things that you really need to think about before... - #4
Cloud Architect: Transform Technology and Organization
2 Books
Architects don't just recite product names and features. They understand the options, decisions, and trade-offs behind them. They earn credibility and maintain authenticity by connecting the penthouse with the engine room. Get two essential books that redefine the role of the software and IT architect at one low price:37 Things One Architect... - #6
Linux Administration Complet
4 Books
Ce lot comprend les quatre volumes du Guide Linux Administration :Linux Administration, Volume 1, Administration fondamentale : Guide pratique de préparation aux examens de certification LPIC 1, Linux Essentials, RHCSA et LFCS. Administration fondamentale. Introduction à Linux. Le Shell. Traitement du texte. Arborescence de fichiers. Sécurité... - #7
The Python Craftsman
3 Books
The Python Craftsman series comprises The Python Apprentice, The Python Journeyman, and The Python Master. The first book is primarily suitable for for programmers with some experience of programming in another language. If you don't have any experience with programming this book may be a bit daunting. You'll be learning not just a programming... - #10
All the Books of The Medical Futurist
6 Books
We put together the most popular books from The Medical Futurist to provide a clear picture about the major trends shaping the future of medicine and healthcare. Digital health technologies, artificial intelligence, the future of 20 medical specialties, big pharma, data privacy, digital health investments and how technology giants such as Amazon...
