Usability Engineering in Industrial Practice

ABSTRACT Do developers use proven usability techniques like user involvement, usability testing, and iterative design in industrial practice? Based on inside knowledge of many different types of projects, the author must conclude that these techniques are seldom used. There are several reasons for that. For instance: (1) The market pressure is not there. Users ask primarily for functionality, and cannot formulate their usability requirements. (2) Developers misunderstand the usability techniques. For instance they assume that usability testing is a kind of debugging, rather than a step in designing the interface. Or they believe that expensive labs have to be used, rather than a low-cost approach that can be learned in a day and carried out by developers. (3) There is no proven way to make a good, first prototype. Since development in practice seems restricted to modifications of the first prototype, it is essential to make it good. (4) There is no proven way to correct observed proble...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1997
• Where: INTERACT
• Authors: Søren Lauesen
• Keywords: INTERACT 1997, INTERACT 2007, Usability, Usability Techniques, Usability Testing