Image, 5. 12.

[Fania Bremmer]

Another tester/UX designer perspective:
>
> I think Plasma Active brings new challenges because of the tight integration of designers and UX people into the development process.
> I don't know how the process of working with people like Nuno or Celeste is, maybe we could learn from them?
> For Fania and me at least, the situation of being tightly integrated into a community project is rather new.
> I have worked with the Amarok and Calligra teams before, but the process there was different. Mostly I gave them suggestions, either I or they made mockups of what they should look like and then I waited for the next beta - or even release - to see how they turned out. Not because the developers wanted it that way but simply because I did not want to learn how or invest the time to compile the applications after every change. This allowed me to always use "finished" software, but at the cost of not being able to correct anything if things did not turn out exactly the way I had envisioned them.
>
> Designers and UX people should be integrated as early as possible in the development process so we are on the right path.
> On the other hand, we are like executives: We want to see and touch things. We want to play with them. And for this, they have to at least sort of work. They can have issues here and there, but they need to work well enough so we can at least imagine how well they work for a user.
I have to agree with Thomas that for this release it has been really 
late to have a testable image. I could start first testings last monday 
for the earliest, which is 2 weeks before our official release date.
And this with a brand new feature that hasnt been tested by any UX 
person before. Often, when we (as designers) develop concepts, we cannot 
feel and experience them into the last details. Normally there are 
mockups and prototypes for that, to make an early proof-of-concept for 
every UI concept, test it and adjust it, until it fits. But then of 
course the real testing in the final development should occur. And often 
at this point the interaction, design and layout needs to be adjusted 
once again, because it doesnt feel ready or polished. This process needs 
time. Therefore SCRUM is a nice method - to have early demos to see and 
experience first results. And have anough time to (do user) test and to 
adjust.

Another thing is the production of release material - currently I am 
doing screenshots, videos etc. Normally this should be done with a final 
RC, where no bigger changes are left. With having a stable image that 
late, only little time is left to prepare those kind of things.

So, yes I understand there will always be some bugs, maybe even 
crashes... but it becomes critical if a stable testing image is not 
available over weeks.


>
> This is why I like Scrum: After every sprint, I have a "potentially shippable product increment" that I can test. It's not a finished product, but those things that are in there work.
Yep, agreed.