INTRODUCTION #2

 The need for a company to buy into the importance of usabilty testing and the iterative design cycle.

Unfortunately, designers cannot embrace iterative design process unless they have upper management's agreement. Designers need company support (in the form of financial, facility space, manpower, decision making power) in order to make the iterative design process happen. The following information from the Dumas & Redish book, A Practical Guide to Usabilty Testing (1993).

The need for a company to buy into the importance of usability testing and the iterative design cycle. The traditional design process tends to be similar to an assembly line where the developers work to create a product driven by technology. User interface reviews and documentation are an afterthought dealt with late in the project. Why doesn't this model support the concept of user centred design? The following 6 points are reasons why:

1- The assembly line approach to development. The product is defined by one group and developed by another and usability specialists are brought in (if at all) at the end of design to do acceptance testing, not design involvement.

2- The battle over user ownership. It may be that sales and marketing feel the users to be their customers and may be appreciative if the developers discuss the product with them. Sales/marketing/project managers are afraid that developers will promise features or a product that they don't plan on delivering. Eventhough this situation may be true, developers must remember that information not received directly from the users is not as helpful since it may have been interpreted differently.

3- User feedback isn't passed onto the design team. The help-desk/trainers/sales representatives may get to know of problems with the product, but these issues do not get back to the design team. This lack of feedback gives developers a false sense that the product does not have any problems and is usable.

4- Inter-departmental competition hinders respect. The "throw it over the wall" approach encourages people to be isolated from the other development stages. This isolated attitude makes it difficult to understand and respect others with different needs/goals. This may result in a lack of respect for the user who may be one of these seemingly opposing views.

5- Upper management focused on head count Vs. overall budget. The manager may be of the view that anyone can do particular tasks (writing, training, interface designers, usability testers). They are not of the view that a specialist is needed to do these jobs so programmers/marketing have dual roles which could result in a poorer job.

6- Usability and documentation are in the list of priorities. Companies fail to see that even if the product meets schedule and budget, it remains worthless if the user cannot use it effectively and efficiently to accomplish real tasks.

Due to the infusion of technology into the everyday population, the demand for usable products has risen. It is no longer only the well educated and "techies" that are using technology, but the general population uses it every day. This demand has been flown back to the developers and producers of technology. Those companies that recognize producing usable products as a way of being competitive have endorsed the iterative design approach.