First, one of the things that makes TDD (ie, test driven development, for the non-übergeeks) so powerful is that it’s automated. You check in code or build and the test is performed, the results are binary: pass or fail. To implement some form of UX-TDD, usage scenarios would have to be tested through some process, ideally involving users, which increases the cost of testing and the complexity of performing the test to such a degree that the tests could no longer be atomic.

Second, most user-testing does not result in a binary outcome. It’s more like a systems test in that the relationships between multivariate inputs can impact the user experience in unexpected ways. I’ve yet to see someone compose usability test scripts that are so complete that they can tackle all of the possible fail-points for an interaction. That said, if anyone could, I bet you could!

Continuous UX is definitely something that I try to practice, however. One of the challenges in typical software development, at least in enterprise scenarios, is that UX practitioners are engaged discretely. There are touchpoints across the development process during which UX is brought into the fold, and then the process moves onto its next checkpoint. I think this fails. When I look at organizations that create really exceptional software, experience, and product, I see UX practitioners engaged at every phase of the process, from ethnography & user analysis ➜ requirements gathering ➜ concept design ➜ concept validation & prototyping ➜ detailed design ➜ code reviews ➜ incremental acceptance testing ➜ usability ➜ final UAT ➜ VOC review & analytics.

I guess my question is: Can a TDD-like process for UX speed up the predevelopment process and create a framework for “continuous UX design” to integrate into an Agile development house?