How to integrate usability into the software development process

Abstract

Usability is increasingly recognized as a quality attribute that one has to explicitly deal with during development. Nevertheless, usability techniques, when applied, are decoupled from the software development process. The host of techniques offered by the HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) field make the task of selecting the most appropriate ones for a given project and organization a difficult task. Project managers and developers aiming to integrate usability practices into their software process have to face important challenges, as the techniques are not described in the frame of a software process as it is understood in SE (Software Engineering). Even when HCI experts (either in-house or from an external organization) are involved in the integration process, it is also a tough endeavour due to the strong differences in terminology and overall approach to software development between HCI and SE. In this tutorial we will present, from a SE viewpoint, which usability techniques can be most valuable to development teams with little or no previous usability experience, how a particular set of techniques can be selected according to the specific characteristics of the organization and project, and how usability techniques match with the activity groups in the development process.