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  Continue Reading »

One of the most dangerous assumptions product developers can make is that their users are like them. This assumption is almost always wrong. While it may be obvious that a middle-aged product manager in a telecommunications company is not like  Continue Reading »

Traditional requirement specifications can be enhanced with UX information in two main ways: Feature requirements can be based on information collected during the user research phase. Here, user research complements market research data and other sources of product development information.  Continue Reading »

Software, Web sites, and electronic products typically undergo structured quality assurance (QA) testing, since releasing a product without testing runs the risk of unhappy customers, costly returns, and damaged reputations. The need for QA testing is proportional to the complexity  Continue Reading »

“American industry and government will become even more productive if they take advantage of usability engineering techniques.” Al Gore, 1998 [45, p. 1] Have businesses responded to advice of the former US Vice-President? Was he correct in linking usability engineering  Continue Reading »