[Sigia-l] UML - still not fit for the UCD?

[Pradyot Rai]

> I'm after peoples experiences of UML as I'm wondering if I've given it
> too  hard a time in the past. I personally have had classes on UML and
> have used  it to communicate ideas to technical teams but is it true
> that some folks  use use cases as a main deliverable within user
> centered design?

Hmm... There are three different things which I see in your question - 1.
UML as means for specifying UI req.s/specifications to the UI development
and 2. Use case methodology for 'designing' UIs 3. "UCD Vs. UP" issues

2. and 3. have been discussed on this forum before. I have not seen (and
was ever involved) in UML to design interfaces. I have not heard by any
designers who uses it within the domian of 'UI design' too. It would be
interesting to hear if it has any relevance to the "UI design" process.
IMHO, this is strictly engineering domain for interpreting and documenting
'design/requirements' and is not 'Designers' problem.

> I have found that use case often take the focus off what the user wants
> to  do and instead focuses upon how technically things are going to be
> done  with servers being given equal status to some degree to users,
> i.e.  actors.

Your intuition is correct. About the Use Cases issue - I have fought the
same battle. Mostly the use case theory within the pretext of RUP is more
system centric than anything to do with User Centric approach. And it does
bring in stupid conclusions to the designers. However, there are some use
case methodologies which provide very good means to do the 'task analysis'
and this methodology is very well aligned with the UCD principles. This
theory is proposed by "lockwood and Constatine" and is known as "Usage
Centered Design". I have followed it and it is really a good methodology
to solve 'complex UI design problems'. Again, this is not "Unified" theory
but aligns much better with UCD than the thory proposed by
"Cockburn/Jacobson". Please read the following paper for more - "Structure
and Style in Use Cases for User Interface Design -
"http://www.foruse.com/articles/structurestyle2.htm

A similar discussion about the "UCD Vs. RUP" we had before. Some of the
members of this list did share there experience/opinion about this issue.
I did post the summary here but am not been able to find it at the moemnt.
If you want to search, here's the title - "'Process+Tools+Guidelines' to
do the right thing!"

> Defining technical solutions before defining the user
> needs I  consider working against user centered design....

This is a big problem and I sympathise with your pain. Mostly all those
big organization which have borrowed RUP out of complusion (i.e.
government contractors, bigCo. etc.) do get cynical about it's
recomendations. And partly Ratioanal, IBM, Microsoft are to be blamed for
these - 'cos these companies have not done anything to clear the confusion
that RUP is only engineering process and can't be perfect match for 'UI
Design', 'requirement analysis/managemnet' or as recipe for Tandoori
Chicken.

The fact that Rational/IBM has to sell products for Req. Management,
system design, Content Management and Version controls shows their vested
interest to maintain the confusion that RUP is the "Unified Process" and
can handle the UI design, User Experience and IA work, as well. Fact
remains, there is no "one" tool which can guarentee to manage the whole
"UI Design" to "engineering" job. The multi-desciplinary task of UI Design
and Engineering can only be handled with open ended processes and clear
headed people.

RUP is most critised in this community essentially for two reasons -
first, that they make you believe that 'UI Design' is an 'software
engineering' problem and secondly, they propose to use the 'designer' as
mere 'Graphic artists'. But, there are methodologies that UCD can go hand
in hand with RUP unless your Boss is a nuckle head and don't want you to
give credit for 'Design'. This is not to say that RUP is a bad process,
however if you use knife to stir the coffee, there's an issue. Read the
excellent framework of Icon Process, which can give you insight that RUP
and UCD can go hand in hand -
http://www.iconprocess.com/iconProcess/phases.php

At the end, I can assure you that I have been using all the Ratioanl suite
of products in my new avtar to fulfill engineering motives, however, we do
apply the 'right things' to design 'UI', 'IA' and 'UX' where ever
possible. In this big world, there are places where people have realized
that Rational/IBM are good place to buy tools but are probably not the
best people to tell you how to do your job.

Let me know if you need anything more.

Pradyot Rai