How is UX Engineered?
The usability engineering lifecycle is well documented [46; 78; 86; 124], and although different authors use different terminology to describe it, there is a general consensus on the lifecycle's base concepts and methodologies. While the usability engineering lifecycle focuses on the behavioral level of experience, the user experience engineering lifecycle described below expands that narrow focus to include the visceral and sociocultural levels. The UXE lifecycle is iterative and can be integrated with various software and product development processes including object-oriented software engineering, agile software development, and product lifecycle management. It consists of five main phases:
- Business objectives for UXE. Define the business or organizational objectives for the UXE effort.
- User research. Collect targeted data on users (prospective or actual), their tasks, and their environment through observation and discussion.
- UX requirement analysis. Define product and UX requirements for areas where business objectives and user research overlap.
- UX design. Develop a series of increasing detailed models or prototypes (conceptual, architectural, interactive, aesthetic), iteratively evaluating and redesigning each type before going on to the next.
- UX evaluation. Evaluate and test models and prototypes to generate new design ideas and to determine whether UX requirements have been met.
Each phase has their own work products that capture knowledge generated in that phase and help designers apply the knowledge both in the next phase and in other projects. Effective UXE requires all five lifecycle phases; however, the methods and resource allocation within each phase can vary greatly and be scaled up or down depending on budget, project schedule, business priorities, etc. Keep this in mind as we expand on each of the five phases below.