Focusing on the User: Development Processes are Agile, End-User-Centered, and Merged with the Operation

In many companies, software development processes are largely organized according to the waterfall model. Therefore, the different development phases occur sequentially from analyzing the requirements to the specialized and technical conception, implementation and testing and all the way to the go-live—usually with minimal feedback possibilities between the phases. Development activities focus strongly on technology and function, while user needs and acceptance have hardly been taken into account thus far. This approach appears to be limited in its suitability for the demands of the digital world. If the traditional software development processes from the corporate context were applied to the development of modern apps in the consumer context, there would only be an update every few months or even years. The app would therefore not be successful on the market, since users are presently accustomed to continuous background updates—and therefore to always having up-to-date applications. In times of digitalization, more and more application systems are also aimed at company external users, such as apps for customer service, marketing or sales, but also portals for suppliers and partners, so that user interface design, in particular, becomes a competitive differentiating activity. At the same time, the employees themselves are also becoming increasingly demanding. Particularly the digital natives—people who grew up in the digital world—are becoming less and less tolerant towards poor user-friendliness of software systems.