Sisira Adikari

Reframed contexts: design thinking for agile user experience design

The effectiveness of user experience design is dependent on many factors including complete and accurate contextual information, design approaches, and methods followed. The recent HCI literature clearly shows that there is a growing research interest on integration of User Experience (UX) design and agile software development. A framework based on design thinking is proposed that enhances the current user experience design by integration of three design approaches - design thinking, designing for user experience and agile software development. These three different design approaches of the framework complement each other to benefit effective derivation of contextual requirements that include functionality of the system as well as aspects of total user experience based on the shared understanding gained from stakeholders in the context. Implications of each design approach on stakeholders and the context are discussed in detail to show the significance and value of the proposed framework on the whole design and design process. It is expected that the proposed framework is capable of enhancing the design quality and user experience of products, systems, and services created through agile software development approaches.

A design science framework for designing and assessing user experience

User Experience is a well recognized factor in design and evaluation of artifacts in Human-Computer Interaction. There are many user experience models reported in the literature to reflect this status. Techniques and instruments for managing user experience are still not sufficient. In this paper, we discuss design science research and important user experience models reported in the literature and propose an integrated design science framework for designing and assessing user experience. We also present the results of an experimental study to validate our proposed framework and the instrument employed.

A design science approach to an HCI research project

Usability is an important and determinant factor in human-computer systems acceptance. Usability issues are still identified late in the software development process, during testing and deployment. One of the reasons these issues arise late in the process is that current requirements engineering practice does not incorporate usability perspectives effectively into software requirements specifications. The main strength of usability-focused software requirements is the clear visibility of usability aspects for both developers and testers. The explicit expression of these aspects of human-computer systems can be built for optimal usability and also evaluated effectively to uncover usability issues. This paper presents a design science-oriented research design to test the proposition that incorporating user modelling and usability modelling in software requirements specifications improves design. The proposal and the research design are expected to make a contribution to knowledge by theory testing and to practice with effective techniques to produce usable human computer systems.

User and Usability Modeling for HCI/HMI: A Research Design

A key reason for the presence of poor usability in products is the insufficient specification of usability perspectives effectively in product requirements specifications. The explicit expression of usability perspective in product requirements specifications is quite important in providing a clear visibility of usability aspects for both product developers and testers. Such specifications incorporating usability of human-interactive systems can be built for optimal usability and also evaluated effectively to uncover usability related issues. In this paper, we present a design science-oriented research design to test the proposition that incorporating user modeling and usability modeling in product requirements specifications improves design. We expect our proposal and the research design will make a contribution to knowledge by theory testing and to practice with effective techniques to specify usable human-interactive systems.

An Integrated Framework for Design Thinking and Agile Methods for Digital Transformation

This paper proposes a framework to deliver a faster workable project module in an innovative, dynamic environment. The increased demand in mobile and internet applications drive businesses to rethink their customer needs to a greater extent and undertake digital transformation to compete in the marketplace. The agile methods as an approach is gaining popularity to develop innovative solutions while Design Thinking leads to transformation, evolution and innovation, and to form new ways of managing current and future business opportunities. The proposed framework supports the evolving Digital Transformation by combining the benefits of Agile methods and Design Thinking. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on Design Thinking and Agile methodology by providing a framework which integrates the core processes of Agile methods and Design Thinking.

Design science-oriented usability modelling for software requirements

An identified key reason for degraded usability in software systems is the deficiencies of current RE practice to incorporate usability perspectives effectively into SRS. The explicit expression of user and usability aspects in SRS benefits designers, developers, and testers in ensuring optimal usability in software products. This paper presents the results of a design-science oriented user interface design study to validate the proposition that incorporating user modelling and usability modelling in SRS improves design.

Embed Design Thinking in Co-Design for Rapid Innovation of Design Solutions

This paper presents a detailed research study that explores how a design thinking inspired co-design approach was applied to creating and evaluating design artifacts of an intended system. A prototype system so called Art Lab was created for the use of an art community for online engagement and collaborative decision-making. The prototype system was designed based on selective user community ideas picked up using an integrated idea generation and prototyping process. The results of this study suggest that the integrated ideation governance process and an active end-user involvement in idea generation and prototyping deliver effective human-centered, and user agreed design solutions. The significance of the paper is that it presents a well-detailed Ideation Governance process and a prototyping approach designated as the Idea Lab process for effective idea generation, idea selection, and prototyping.

Design Thinking Framework for Project Portfolio Management

Project Portfolio Management has been introduced as a strategy to manage multiple projects at the same time. To stay ahead of the competition, organisations require PPM approach to achieve results. PPM is an area of organisational activity that helps organisations to govern the selection of projects and/or programs and management of organisations. The PPM discussed as an area that requires conceptualisation to give meaning to it and make it usable for organisations. This paper applies design thinking framework to conceptualise PPM and to investigate what Australian Government Organisations wish to achieve through the PPM. Findings of the study are important in better understanding the complexities of PPM.

Developing High-Performing Teams: A Design Thinking Led Approach

A highly functional team is fundamental to the ongoing business success, and organizations spend a significant amount of resources on improving team performance. Creating a high-performing team is far more challenging than imagined in an enterprise with continuously changing business demands. This paper examines how the application of design thinking can lead to developing highly functional teams that deliver effective team performance and outcomes. This study involved embedding design thinking into co-design as an approach to develop and implement strategies that satisfy a high-performing team structure. Four dynamic teams of total seven team members actively engaged with two business designers in co-design. Upon the setting up, all team members worked with the new team structure for seven weeks. A questionnaire was administered to team members to assess their new experience, perceptions on performance and outcomes in the new team structure followed by a focus group workshop. The results of the subsequent data analysis indicate that team members performed significantly better in the new team structure and delivered higher levels of team outcomes.