Delivering ease of use

Uptake of human-computer interaction (HCI) and usability engineering by software development organizations can be terminally impeded by lack of appreciation of their value, even when ease of use is recognized as important. Descriptions of HCI offerings in terms of activities and methods are not readily comprehensible to managers of software products. Similarly descriptions of HCI activities and methods give little indication of how these are to be managed with reference to the stages and deliverables in a software product development life cycle. This lack of clear association between usability engineering and software engineering in product development contributes to the marginalization of usability-related activities. A set of usability deliverables are identified, their content and how they relate to a software product design and development process are discussed.