Usability and User Experience Design Process

Several software engineering processes have attempted to incorporate the user interface design activity while trying to align the usability aspects of the system. The heavyweight process Rational Unified Process (RUP) as well as lightweight processes, such as Agile, have tried to incorporate some core processes that attempt to account for a system's elusive usability. Most of these efforts have taken an inside-out view. Despite good intentions, these methodologies fall short of ensuring usability attributes. The main problem with these methodologies is their focus on design and building of software. They assume that the user interface and the usage requirements are clear to the designer of the software. However, this is frequently not the case. A large part of the usability effort is directed toward the early part of the system requirements and design activities.

The usability process, Figure 10-1, is largely iterative. It is difficult to design it correctly the first time. Yet if the process is not planned well, changing the user interface frequently after the software has been built is not very economical, regardless of whatever new information and feedback are received. Figure 10-1 illustrates this process.

Figure 10-1. Usability process.

graphics/10fig01.gif

Most steps in a usability-related process can be divided into stages for (1) mapping to the system requirements; (2) design, development, and testing; and (3) deployment and ongoing refinement. These three stages correspond to the system development stages. The requirements stage has the maximum usability-related processes and techniques. Typically, the output of the requirements stage is a functional specification. Together with the prototype UI, this provides a good reference for the development teams. Next, the traditional software design, development, and testing stages kick in. At this point, most of the usability processes are geared toward assisting development and providing alternate solutions if development trade-offs become necessary. Toward the end of this stage, when the application has been developed and is reasonably stable, the application goes through usability testing. Once the application is ready, it is rolled out to users in the field for actual usage. At this stage, very little change to the application is possible or advisable. The focus shifts to gathering metrics for refining the applications.



Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture, A
A Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture
ISBN: 0131412752
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 148

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net