John F. Kelley

Extending User-Centered Methods beyond Interface Design to Functional Definition

The contributions of human factors or usability practitioners to application development often begin with a functional specification handed down from an external source. User-centered design methods are commonly applied to how function is delivered but not what functions will be delivered. We in the Interactive Transaction Systems (ITS) group at the T.J. Watson Research Division of IBM have succeeded, during several application development efforts, in expanding the scope of our user-centered, iterative design approaches to include functional as well as interface definition for both software and hardware (kiosk/workstation) design. By learning our customers business and owning the entire development process, we can better design our solutions to solve their problems (and their clients problems in the case of service industry solutions). We achieve this by including the functional definition in the first of four phases we have defined for all of our development projects. A significant facilitation for this in the arena of software development has been the CADT (Customer Access Development Toolset) development platform we use to build our applications. This set of tools for iterative application design and development gives us the flexibility to quickly and effectively address emerging functional requirements.

Usability Engineering: A Consultant's View of Best Practices and Proven Results:

(Part 1 of this three-part series on Best Practices appeared in the winter 2007 issue.) The IBM Global Services Usability Engineering National Practice (UENP) group has focused on the application of industry-based, user-centered design (UCD) best practice techniques and principles to solve user interface and usability problems in a variety of industry contexts. UCD techniques and principles have been applied across different industries, application domains, and user interface styles. We have learned valuable lessons with regard to consistent and effective use of a rigorous, proven, and repeatable design process in system and Internet projects. The use of our design process results in cost-effective solutions for satisfied customer users. Although the findings generally apply to many styles of user interfaces and systems, this article shares some of our lessons, experiences, best practices, and results with a focus on recent Web-based projects.

Best Practices Applied to Web-Based Projects

User-centered design must be the foundation of all Web sites to ensure that visitors (and shoppers) keep coming back.

Usability Engineering: “Best of the Best” Best Practices

In the first two articles of this series, we focused on key challenges and a process for approaching user-centered design (UCD). In this third article, we describe and summarize the “best of the best” best practices for UCD activities and a case study in which the best practices were leveraged. We conclude with strategic recommendations for making UCD a more effective and efficient methodology in the software engineering life cycle.