[Sigia-l] Follow-up to Usability Testing

[Peter Boersma]

Dan Chamberlain asked:
> What is the standard process used by Internet companies for User
> Interface development?

Dan, that's like asking "what is the standard feature set of a car?"; it
depends!

The answer will be different for different companies, and even within
companies different from project to project, based on the needs of the
client, the knowledge about the users, the familiarity with the technology
and application domain, experience of the team members, not to mention time,
budget, and several other factors.

> What would your ideal UI process look like? Why?
>
> A very high level example would be: (Scope > Analysis > Design >
> Development > Test > Implement)

My ideal process would be scaled to the project, iterative, and based on
user research.
So there would be a separate Research phase (possibly reusing previously
collected knowledge), a lot of loops between Analysis and Implement and
ideally several loops around them as well.

I have been thinking about and working on processes for user experience for
a couple of years now, and written about the topic on my blog
(http://www.peterboersma.com/blog) as well as presented at conferences.
Some posts that seem relevant are:
- My IA Summit presentation "StUX - integrating IA deliverables in a
software development methodology"
 
(http://www.peterboersma.com/blog/2005/03/my-ia-summit-presentation-stux_10.
html)
- My Design Engaged mini-presentation: Wabi-sabi for Web2.0
 
(http://www.peterboersma.com/blog/2005/11/my-design-engaged-mini-presentatio
n.html)
- Adding design process attributes to patterns
 
(http://www.peterboersma.com/blog/2006/08/adding-design-process-attributes-t
o.html)

And, I am happy to announce a panel I hope to moderate at the upcoming IA
Summit in Las Vegas in March. Its topic is "Where does IA fit in the design
process?" and it should be relevant for people who think this question is
interesting :-)

Peter
--
Peter Boersma | Senior Interaction Designer | Info.nl
http://www.peterboersma.com/blog | http://www.info.nl