Keywords:
Usability, software, human factors, organization, process
SUMMARY
This SIG is a follow-up to the "Issues in Human Factors Organization and
Practices" SIG held at CHI '94. During that session, many people
expressed interest in the assessment methodology used to evaluate the
maturity of usability management in organizations. The intent of this
SIG is to provide a forum for participants to assess their own
organizations using structured evaluation methods similar to those that
the SIG leader previously used in 53 organizational assessments.
Participants in this SIG may also want to attend the follow-up SIG,
"Usability Management Maturity - Part 2, Usability Techniques: What can
you do?" which explores techniques available for dealing with any
weaknesses identified in the self-assessment.
ISSUES AND GOALS
It is becoming increasingly evident that the most successful software
development organizations produce software that balances functionality
and usability in a way that many other organizations only wish for. How
these successful organizations focus on usability has been the subject
of assessments at 53 locations across 28 organizations worldwide over
the past five years. The findings have been startling. It is not
sufficient to hire human factors professionals, conduct usability lab
tests, or involve real end-users in design. Some organizations are
being successful in the absence of these three ingredients. Their
success stems from a synergistic blending of management attention to
usability issues, effective usability-skilled staff, and basic usability
principles applied in whatever development process they employ.
The issues to be dealt with during this SIG are:
- Self-assessments of participants' organizations Each participant
will use the same assessment grid used in all prior assessments to
evaluate his or her organization.
- Lessons learned from past assessments Using assessment grids from
past assessments, we will discuss what factors distinguished these
organizations. Participants will be able to contrast their grids
with those of the organizations discussed and ask questions to help
better understand any differences.
Our goal during the session is to prepare participants to think
analytically about strengths and weaknesses in their organization and be
in a better position to determine a course for improvement.
