What makes strategic usability fail?: lessons learned from the field
CHI '99 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Successful strategies for selling usability into organisations
CHI '99 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Design and natural science research on information technology
Decision Support Systems
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Improving the position of user-centered design (UCD) in development organizations is a challenge. One approach to start improvement is to carry out usability capability assessments (UCA). We experimented a UCA in a software development company, and evaluated its usefulness. The evaluation consisted of (1) an analysis of the context of use of UCA; (2) definition of the evaluation criteria; and (3) performing the evaluation by using questionnaires. The results indicate that UCA should not only provide information about the position of UCD, but also motivate the personnel to experiment with it in their work, and provide training for them. In the UCA conducted, we succeeded in identifying the strengths and the weaknesses in the development process. The staff became motivated and had a positive attitude towards UCD. UCD was made highly visible in the organization. However, we identified also targets for improvement. The terminology related to UCD needs to be explained very carefully and a common terminology with the personnel needs to be developed. In addition, the UCA should focus on the needs of usability specialists and provide support especially for their work. UCA should also be done in an efficient way.