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- Rönkkö, Kari, et al.
(author)
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Inside Information 2 − Usability and User Research : Eight years of research and method development cooperation
- 2009
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This report is a follow up to the Inside Information – Usability and User Research at UIQ Technology report that was made available in October 2006. The initial report was written from an industrial point of view aimed to market UIQ Technology through the demonstration of the UIQ usability and user research philosophy. UIQ Technology Usability Metrics (UTUM) was important result here. UTUM was considered an extremely cost-effective method for keeping in focus what is important for users and handset makers. It was a tool for guiding development decisions as well as for validating the worthiness of design concepts. The two parts in UTUM was perceived by the company as an innovation in their software development practice. The first part was the relationship to users and attitude to their participation in the design process. The second part was how the company immediately and directly incorporated this usability understanding into the software development process. UTUM, together with other usability methods and results presented in this report, have been produced in an action research manner. Due to the closure of the company, the main author of the 2006 report, and the same researchers who also supported the writing of the initial report, decided to produce a follow-up and closure version of the initial report; as a way to summarize the results from the academic and industrial cooperation. In this updated version, eight years of joint action research and cooperative method development surrounding usability and user research is concluded.
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| 2. |
- Winter, Jeff, et al.
(author)
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Reporting Usability Metrics Experiences
- 2009
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is often claimed that software development is negatively affected by infrequent, incomplete and inconsistent measurements; improving with the help of metrics is an obvious solution. Software testing provides opportunities for measurement that give organizations insight in to processes. Usability testing is part of the testing area, although it is not a commonly addressed area within software engineering, perhaps because of a split between qualitative and quantitative paradigms. We compare a usability testing framework called UTUM with principles for Software Process Improvement, and find areas of close agreement as well as areas where our work illuminates new characteristics. UTUM is found to be a useful vehicle for improvement in software engineering, dealing as it does with both product and process. Our work emphasises the importance of the neglected area of usability testing. Our experience also illustrates how the metrics have been tailored to act as a boundary object between different disciplines.
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