[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/ skip to main content
article
Free access

Organizational obstacles to interface design and development: two participant-observer studies

Published: 01 March 1994 Publication History

Abstract

The development of human-computer interfaces was studied in two large software product development organizations. Researchers joined development projects for approximately one month and participated in interface design while concurrently interviewing other project participants and employees, recording activity in meetings and on electronic networks, and otherwise observing the process. The two organizations differed in their approaches to development, and, in each case, the approach differed in practice from the model supported by the organizational structure. Development practices blocked the successful application of accepted principles of interface design. The obstacles to effective design that results from people noticing and being affected by interface changes, and a lack of communication among those sharing responsibility for different aspects of the interface.

References

[1]
ALLEN, T.J. 1977. Managing the Flow of Technology. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
[2]
ALLEN, T. J., AND COHEN, S. 1969. Information flow in R & D laboratories. Admin. Sci. Q. 14, p. 19.
[3]
ALLEN, T. J., TUSHMAN, M. L., AND LEE, D. M.S. 1979. Technology transfer as a function of position in the spectrum from research through development to technical services. Acad. Manage. J. 22,694-708.
[4]
BUTLER, K.A. 1985. Connecting theory and practice: A case study of achieving usability goals. In Proceedings of the CH1 '85 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, 85-88.
[5]
CARROLL, J. M., AND ROSSON, M. B. 1985. Usability specifications as a tool in iterative development. In Advances in Human-Computer Interaction, vol. 1. Ablex, Norwood, N.J., 1-28.
[6]
CURTIS, B., K~SNER, H., AND ISCOE, N. 1988. A field study of the software design process for large systems. Commun. ACM 31, 11, 1268-1287.
[7]
GILLAN, D. J., BREEDIN, S. D., AND COOKE, N. J. 1992. Network and multi-dimensional representations of the declarative knowledge of human-computer interface design experts. Int. J. Man-Machine Stud. 36, 4, 587-615.
[8]
GORANSSON, B., LIND, M., PETTERSSON, E., SANDBLAD, B., AND SCHWALBE, P. 1987. The interface is often not the problem. In Proceedings ofCHI + GI '87. ACM, New York, 133-136.
[9]
GOULD, J.D. 1988. How to design usable systems. In Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction. North-Holland, Amsterdam, 757-789.
[10]
GOULD, J. D., BOXES, S. J., LEVY, S., R~CHARDS, J. T., AND SCHOONARD, J. 1987. The 1984 Olympic Message System: A test of behavioral principles of system design. Commun. ACM 30, 9, 758-769.
[11]
GOULD, J. D., BOILS, S. J., AND LEWIS, C. 1991. Making usable, useful, productivity-enhancing computer applications. Commun. ACM 34, 1, 74-85.
[12]
GOULD, J. D., AND LEWIS, C. a. 1983. Designing for usability--key principles and what designers think. In Proceedings of the CHI '83 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, 50-83.
[13]
GOULD, J. D., AND LEWIS, C. 1985. Designing for usability--key principles and what designers think. Commun. ACM 28, 3,300-311.
[14]
GRUDIN, J. 1991a. Interactive systems: Bridging the gaps between developers and users. IEEE Computer 24, 4, 54-69.
[15]
GRUDIN, J. 1991b. Systematic sources of suboptimal interface design in large product development organizations. Hum. Comput. Interaction 6, 2, 147-196.
[16]
GRUDIN, J., AND POLTROCK, S.E. 1989. User interface design in large corporations: Coordination and communication across disciplines. In Proceedings of CHI '89 Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, 197-203.
[17]
HAMMOND, N., JORGENSEN, A., MACLEAN, A., BARNARD, P., AND LONG, J. 1983. Design practice and interface usability: Evidence from interviews with designers. In Proceedings of CHI '83 Conference on Human Factors ~n Computing Systems. ACM, New York, 40-44.
[18]
HEWETT, T. T., AND MEADOW, C.T. 1986. On designing for usability: An application of four key principles. In Proceedings of CHI '86 Human Factors in Computmg Systems. ACM, New York, 247-252.
[19]
KRAUT, R., EGIDO, C., ANn GALEGHER, J. 1988. Patterns of contact and communication in scientific research collaborations. In Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (Portland, Ore., Sept. 26 29), ACM, New York, 1-12.
[20]
KRAUT, R., GALEGHER, J., AND EGIDO, C. 1986. Relationships and tasks in scientific research collaborations. In Proceedings of the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (Austin, Tex., Dec. 3-5), 229-250.
[21]
PERLMAN, G. 1988. Software tools for user interface development. In Handbook of Human- Computer Interaction. North-Holland, Amsterdam, 819-833.
[22]
POLTROCK, S.E. 1989. Innovation in user interface development: Obstacles and opportunities. In Proceedings of CHI '89 Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, 191-195.
[23]
PRESSMAN, R.S. 1987. Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach. McGraw-Hill, New York.
[24]
ROSSON, M. B., MAASS, S., AND KELLOGG, W.A. 1988. The designer as user: Building requirements for design tools from design practice. Commun. ACM 31, 11, 1288-1298.
[25]
WHITESIDE, J., BENNETT, J., AND I-IOLTZBLA~r, K. 1988. Usability engineering: Our experience and evolution. In Handbook of Human-Computer Interactzon. North-Holland, Amsterdam, 791-818.
[26]
WIXON, D., AND WHITESIDE, J. 1985. Engineering for usability: Lessons from tile user derived interface. In Proceedings of CH! '85 Human Factors in Computir~ Systems. ACM, New York, 144-147.

Cited By

View all
  • (2022)Positive developments but challenges still aheadJournal of Usability Studies10.5555/3532713.353271615:4(210-246)Online publication date: 18-Apr-2022
  • (2022)UX professionals’ learning and usage of UX methods in agileInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2022.107005151:COnline publication date: 1-Nov-2022
  • (2022)“Organized UX Professionalism” – An Empirical Study and Conceptual Tool for Scrutinizing UX Work of the FutureHuman Work Interaction Design. Artificial Intelligence and Designing for a Positive Work Experience in a Low Desire Society10.1007/978-3-031-02904-2_2(34-65)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2022
  • Show More Cited By

Recommendations

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction  Volume 1, Issue 1
March 1994
78 pages
ISSN:1073-0516
EISSN:1557-7325
DOI:10.1145/174630
Issue’s Table of Contents

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 March 1994
Published in TOCHI Volume 1, Issue 1

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Check for updates

Qualifiers

  • Article

Contributors

Other Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

  • Downloads (Last 12 months)165
  • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)26
Reflects downloads up to 19 Dec 2024

Other Metrics

Citations

Cited By

View all
  • (2022)Positive developments but challenges still aheadJournal of Usability Studies10.5555/3532713.353271615:4(210-246)Online publication date: 18-Apr-2022
  • (2022)UX professionals’ learning and usage of UX methods in agileInformation and Software Technology10.1016/j.infsof.2022.107005151:COnline publication date: 1-Nov-2022
  • (2022)“Organized UX Professionalism” – An Empirical Study and Conceptual Tool for Scrutinizing UX Work of the FutureHuman Work Interaction Design. Artificial Intelligence and Designing for a Positive Work Experience in a Low Desire Society10.1007/978-3-031-02904-2_2(34-65)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2022
  • (2019)EnactACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/331027626:3(1-48)Online publication date: 31-May-2019
  • (2019)TransformerProceedings of the 24th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces10.1145/3301275.3302269(485-496)Online publication date: 17-Mar-2019
  • (2017)Design BreakdownsProceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing10.1145/2998181.2998190(630-641)Online publication date: 25-Feb-2017
  • (2017)Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social ComputingundefinedOnline publication date: 25-Feb-2017
  • (2016)Users' preference share as a criterion for hierarchical menu optimizationProceedings of the 8th ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems10.1145/2933242.2935875(305-310)Online publication date: 21-Jun-2016
  • (2016)Context of Use: The Final Frontier in the Practice of User-Centered Design?Interacting with Computers10.1093/iwc/iww030Online publication date: 13-Oct-2016
  • (2015)Barriers to and Enablers of Usability in Electronic Consumer Product Development: A Multiple Case StudyHuman–Computer Interaction10.1080/07370024.2015.111737332:1(1-71)Online publication date: 24-Nov-2015
  • Show More Cited By

View Options

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

PDF

eReader

View online with eReader.

eReader

Login options

Full Access

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share this Publication link

Share on social media