Usability Engineering

1
Usability Engineering

• Methodologies
• By Anshul Gupta

2
Index

• Part 1 - Software Engineering
• Introduction
• Outline
• need
• Life-Cycle
• Advantages
• Conclusion

3
Index

• Part 2 - Methodologies
• Why use methodologies
• Various Design Methodologies
• LUCID
• MUSIC
• PD
• CONTEXTUAL DESIGN
• PERFORMANCE CENTERED DESIGN
• OPEN
• USDP

4
Introduction

• Deals with system development methodologies
• Enable teams to create effective user interfaces
• Different activities engaged
• Planning
• Analysis
• Design
• Evaluation.

5
Outline of Usability Engineering

• Xristine Faulkner (2000)
• UE is an approach to the development of software
  and systems which involves user participation
  from the outset and guarantees the usefulness of
  the product through the use of a usability
  specification and metrics.

6
The need for usability

• System acceptability
• Practical acceptability
• Usefulness
• Cost
• Support
• Reliability
• Compatibility

7
Lifecycle models in SE

• Representative of Industry
• User-centred view.
• Models -
• Waterfall model
• 1988 Spiral model introduced
• Early 1990s Rapid Applications Development (RAD)

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9
The UE lifecycle
10
Know the user
11
Advantages

• Smart Look To Developers
• More Productive
• Reduced Development Time
• Save Training Time
• Saves Maintenance Efforts
• Saves Support Resources

12
Advantages

• saves money
• Happy users
• Professional
• Better Sleep

13
Part 2

• Methodologies

14
Why use methodologies?

• Effective user interfaces.
• Guidance to good user interface designs.

15
Various design methodologies

• Logical User-Centered Interaction Design
  Methodology (L.U.C.I.D)
• Measuring Usability of Systems in Context
  (MUSIC)
• Participatory Design (PD)
• Contextual Design
• Performance Centered Design (PCD)
• OPEN
• USDP

16
L.U.C.I.D

• Cognetics Corporation created the LUCID Framework
• Its goals are
• Seamless integration of design and usability
  activities
• Support a user-centered approach
• Enhance the usability

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The LUCID Framework

• Structures product design process
• Works with popular development methodologies
• Offers usability best-practice tools
• Offers UI design management tools

18
stages

• Envision
• Discovery
• Design Foundation
• Design Detail
• Build
• Release

19
MUSIC

• The European MUSIC project developed usability
  context analysis and usability metrics including
  the User Performance Measurement method and the
  SUMI attitude questionnaire.

20
MUSIC (context analysis)

• Provide a basis for designing later usability
  tests
• To collect and agree detailed information about
• Who are the intended users and what are their
  tasks?
• What are the technical and environmental
  constraints?

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Who are the intended users and what are their
tasks?

• Who would use the system?
• Why will they use the system?
• What is their experience and expertise?

22
What are the technical and environmental
constraints?

• What types of hardware will be used?
• What is the organizational environment?
• What is the technical environment?
• What is the physical environment?

23
Participatory Design Methodology

• stakeholders work together to create product
  designs.
• Users play a central role

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Participatory Design Methodology

• Phases
• Phase 1, Task Flows
• represents what the users want to accomplish with
  the proposed tool.
• The team creates task flows as a sequence of
  index cards, each containing a noun and a verb
• Phase 2, Task Object Design
• occurs when the team fleshes out the definitions
  of the nouns on the first set of task-flow cards
• Phase 3, GUI Object Definition
• allows the team to think in terms of software
  tools as they translate their task objects into
  screens, lists, and controls and their
  representation--whether text or graphics

25
Proposal for a graphical frame for PDC 2002

•  
• Global Societal
• Participatory Inquiry -- Collaborative
  Design --
  What is designed?
•  
• Global Professional cultures

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Themes from Brainstorming

• Spreading Participatory Design
• Can we bring together the interest in
  collaborative design and the interest in
  participatory inquiry within the PD scene?
• Enlarging the groups of people participating
• Coming out of a niche tools for propagating PD
• How to attract new generations of researchers and
  practitioners to the PD community (beyond
  Systems)?
• What does the PD community share with architects,
  industrial designers or artists?

• Materials for PD beginners, e.g. extending the PD
  bibliography with methods and case studies
• Contesting design
• PD and longer-term effects of complex
  technologies

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Contextual Design

• Since 1998 usability professionals have designed
  products using Contextual Design.
• an approach to designing user-centered ICT
  systems, with forms on being integrated in
  existing work contexts and practices.

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Contextual Design has seven parts

• Contextual Inquiry
• Work Modeling
• Consolidation
• Work redesign
• The User Environment Design
• Test with customers
• Putting it into practice

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Performance support

• Performance Support (PS
• Performance Support System (PSS)
• Electronic performance support systems (EPSS)

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A performance support model
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A linked PSS architecture
Obviousness designed in
Product
Self-directed Tutorials Quizzes
Learning
On demand Checklists Reminders
Job Aids
PS
Engine
Browsable Reference manuals User guides
Knowledge
Just in time, just enough performance enablement
Administration Updates Metrics
Admin
Control or information flow
32
Performance support

• Performance-Centered Design (PCD) Iterative,
  user-tested design to enable goal achievement
• Observe users in the workplace
• Prototype a solution, do usability testing
• Iterate until measurable goal attainment is
  evident

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Performance-centered design

• PCD focuses on human usage of systems, to
  optimize it
• Example 80 of users do F1, then F2

A
F2
F1
B
Step 1
Step 2
C
Begin
34
OPEN

• Object-oriented Process, Environment, and
  Notation
• Third-generation, public domain, full lifecycle,
  process-focused, methodological approach
• Work Products components that are developed by
  the project.
• Languages components used to document most work
  products.
• Producers components that develop work products.
  
• Work Units components that model the operations
  performed by producers when developing work
  products.
• Stages time intervals that provide a macro
  organization to the work units.

35
USDP in a Nutshell is

• The USDP is
• Use Case Driven
• Architecture Centric
• Iterative, and Incremental

36
The USDP Workflows

• For USDP the major (top level) workflows are
• Requirements Capture
• What System should do?
• Analysis
• Refining and structuring requirements.
• Design
• System architecture, with details that realises
  the requirements.
• Implementation
• Building the software
• Test
• Verify software against requirements

37
The USDP Phases

• For USDP the major (top level) Phases are
• Inception
• Elaboration
• Construction
• Transition

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USDP Artefacts

• Design
• Design Model
• Design Class
• Use Case Realisation - Design
• Design Subsystem
• Interface
• Architecture Description (View of Design Model)
• Deployment Model
• Architecture Description (View of Deployment
  Model)
• Implementation
• Implementation Model
• Component
• Implementation Subsystem
• Interface
• Architecture Description (View of the
  Implementation Model)
• Integration Build Plan
• Test
• Test Model
• Test Case

• Requirements Capture
• Use-Case Model
• Actor
• Architecture Description (View of the Use Case
  Model)
• Glossary
• User Interface Prototype
• Analysis
• Analysis Model
• Analysis Class
• Use-Case Realisation Analysis
• Analysis Package
• Architecture Description (View of the Analysis
  Model)

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Summary

• SE does not address usability issues adequately.
• UE can provide many benefits for an
  organization.
• Usability testing is an integral and essential
  element of UE.
• OPEN, USDP, MUSIC, LUCID etc. are various
  methodologies used in usability engineering.

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Questions

• Name the methodologies in usability engineering.
• Why do we need usability engineering?
• OPEN is the short form for ?
• What does USDP stand for?
• MUSIC uses two techniques which are they ?
• What are the advantages of LUCID?

41
Credit

• W. Bezanson Performance support solutions
  enabling business goals through enabling user
  performance, Trafford Publishing Co. 2002
• www.mwknowles.com/free_articles/white_paper/white_
  paper.html
• OMG group website
• www.chi-sa.org.za