We knew usability was going to play a big role in the successful release of version 1.6 of an ongoing software development project. What we weren’t sure of was when we could schedule a formal usability study with the product end users. Fortunately, we were able to plan, conduct, and analyze the study prior to [...]
The Value of Just-Enough User-Centered Design in an Agile Development Process Continued from “What About the Big Picture – Part 1”… Formative Testing vs. Summative Testing Both methods I mention in my previous post include formative testing, or the testing that is done on low-fidelity prototypes before coding begins. Validating any new additions to the [...]
The Value of Just-Enough User-Centered Design in an Agile Development Process We all know design is important in the development process (even when that process is Agile), but how far will just-in-time design really get you creating a great user experience? Integrating usability and design into the agile process seems to be a hot topic [...]
Two years after passing the certified usability exam offered by Human Factors International, I attended some formal usability training in Minneapolis. The User Centered Analysis and Practical Usability Testing courses offered by HFI that I took last May were all I expected and more. The instructors, Steve Fleming and Drew Falk, and even the area [...]
Call it creating an effective User Experience (UX). Call it designing the ultimate User Interface (UI). Call it constructing the best Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) ever known. Call it whatever you want. In short, User Centered Design (UCD) is all about creating an effective platform between a system and user. Let’s start at the beginning… the [...]