Transcending organizational boundaries: virtual team approach in UI guideline development

Abstract

This paper covers the experience of creating the IBM Web Application User Interface Design guidelines. The guidelines represent the integration of five other guideline sets that were in use at IBM. This paper discusses how the guidelines were developed, problems encountered, and lessons learned in that process. Some of the problems included difficulty in finding realistic examples of guideline topics, too much time spent on low-level detail with not enough on developing design patterns, and the time constraints of the virtual team. Recommendations for overcoming these issues are given.