A participatory approach to helicopter user interface design

The importance of involving users during user interface (UI) design activities is widely recognised however the nature of this involvement may vary significantly. This study investigated the benefits and challenges of applying Participatory Design (PD) during the development of helicopter UI. During the first phase, four helicopter design professionals were interviewed in order to understand their views on user involvement and current approaches. The second phase involved three helicopter test pilots and three human factors specialists participating in a PD workshop (based on design thinking) focussed on a helicopter UI design case study (the Automatic Flight Control System within a Royal Navy Merlin Mark 2). There was strong agreement from all the participants that user involvement is important and current approaches were described as mainly consultative. Benefits identified included a better understanding of the problem and context of use and therefore closer alignment of the design with user needs. The approach encouraged divergent thinking and benefitted from being multidisciplinary. Minor changes to the workshop format should be considered in order to minimise the risk of bias and make the best use of the participants’ time. This study developed a valuable approach to PD which is likely to be generalizable to other domains

User Involvement and Usability Evaluation in Ethiopian Software Organizations

Usability is central especially in contexts with highly heterogeneous user groups as it is the case in developing countries. User involvement and participation has positive impacts towards developing usable software and system success and it is one of the core principles in user centered design (UCD). But how does the industry in developing countries work with UCD and usability evaluation? The article reports from a survey on usability evaluation and UCD practices in Ethiopian software organizations. It aims at exploring the practice of usability evaluation, user involvement and participation in the software organizations in Ethiopia. Some part of the survey question is adapted from a previously conducted survey in Italy and Denmark and further expanded with a set of questions referring to user involvement and participation. The survey was triangulated with interviews with a subset of the respondents. The results show that the percentage of organizations performing some form of usability evaluation is low in Ethiopia. The challenges of usability evaluation observed in the study was analyzed with respect to the challenges of 'digital divide' against the publicly available methods and practices and among developed and developing nations using real access/ real impact criteria. The result shows that there are some unique challenges of usability not discussed in the literature reviewed in any detail such as less IT skills, lack of trained professionals, and lack of awareness. The result for user involvement shows also some unique challenges: lack of user motivation, acceptance of change and cultural influence. However, more than 80% of the surveyed organizations claim involving users in some kind in product development. The implications of these findings with respect to the need to contextualize UCD and usability methods are discussed

An Integrative Framework for Contextual Factors Affecting Information Technology Implementation

While previous research has provided a great deal of information on individual factors that play a role in IT implementation success, a gap in the research exists when it comes to formulating a holistic view of overall environmental factors. This paper conducts a literature review and expands Weill’s conversion effectiveness model to develop a framework integrating the various enterprise-level contextual factors affecting IT implementation. It also discusses relationships among contextual factors and cross-border issues in the global outsourcing environment. This holistic interpretation of individual factors is an initial step toward understanding the complexities of corporate environments and their effects on IT implementation success. The framework can provide companies with a useful tool to evaluate their current environment, determine its strengths and weaknesses, and assess how these will affect IT implementation

Involve users or fail: An IT project case study from east Africa

Repeated surveys, and most notably those by the Standish Group, suggest that a substantial proportion of Information Technology (IT) projects fail. The literature suggests that this is in part due to a lack of user involvement in the project. The authors’ research describes the case study of a major IT system implementation project in East Africa. The paper reports on the results of both an online questionnaire and interviews with key participants. The authors’ findings suggest that the subsequent failure of this project was in large part attributable to a lack of user involvement in the definition of requirements and implementation of the system. There did not appear to be an organisational culture that recognised the significance of such participation in the project. Although there are issues of definition raised, such as the definition of success and failure, this work supports previous findings that user involvement is a key factor in IT project success and failur

Collaboration matters - A retrospective of three user-centred building projects at Aalto University

User involvement in its varied forms is becoming a reality in many building projects. The year 2020 marks a rise of service design in the context of building planning in Finland as new guidelines in the building and real estate industries were introduced by a respected Building Information group. Service design is used as an umbrella term for various participatory and observatory methods in the guideline. However, this approach does evoke important questions concerning the different modes of working and objectives of user involvement throughout the planning process in architecture and building. The purpose of this study is to clarify how to involve users and the various design objectives considered throughout the planning process in architecture and building. This study examines these processes within multiple case studies. Three building planning projects done in Aalto University are selected to situate the theory within the practice and to elucidate the complex phenomenon of user-centred planning. This thesis approached the topic by using qualitative research and investigated collaborative actions using both documentary research and semi-structured interviews (n=10). Furthermore, the collaborative design is analysed using both thematic and visual design methods based on the rich data gathered. Two main results are identified based on the analysis. Firstly, the study creates an overview of a profoundly human-centred planning process combining the findings from the case studies and the insights from the literature review. In this process, three primary levels of action with clear phases for collaboration and diverse objectives for the use of design were revealed. Secondly, the theoretical part of this thesis addresses four stages of the collaborative process, including the following three main user-centred modes of working which are: (1) no-direct-participation with emphases on user investigation and inspiration; (2) participation with emphases on democratic and communicative acts; and (3) collaboration with emphases on collective creativity and shared expertise. This study revealed that a successful user-centred planning process calls for expertise in the strategic use of collaborative modes of working. The results presented here may facilitate improvements in strategic method selection in building planning in general and particularly in the early collaborations for shared vision making. Based on this study, multiple future research areas for design are identified. Strategic method selection for collaborative project planning, shared vision and sensemaking at the beginning of architectural planning, as well as the connection of service design with workplace design, are all areas to be further examined in the future.Käyttäjälähtöinen kehittäminen arkipäiväistyy niin rakentamisen toimialalla kuin myös muussa kehittämisessä. Myös palvelumuotoilun lisääntynyt käyttö Suomessa vie käyttäjälähtöistä kehittämistä eteenpäin. Aihe on erittäin ajankohtainen, sillä keväällä 2020 Rakennustietosäätiö RTS sr:n alainen toimikunta julkaisi tilaajan ohjeen palvelumuotoilusta osana rakennushankkeita ja kiinteistöjen kehittämistä. Kyseinen ohje herättää kuitenkin kysymyksiä kokonaisvaltaisesta ymmärryksestä, miksi käyttäjiä pitäisi osallistaa ja mitä eri keinoja siihen on. Tässä työssä pyritään luomaan ymmärrystä ilmiöstä kokonaisuutena. Opinnäytetyötutkimuksessa tutkittiin käyttäjälähtöisten rakennushankkeiden aikaisia tapahtumia tarkastelemalla kolmea Aalto-yliopiston rakennushanketta. Tutkimuksessa aihetta lähestyttiin laadullisen tutkimuksen, sisältöanalyysin ja puolistrukturoitujen haastatteluiden (n=10) kautta. Sisältöanalyysin ja visuaalisen kuvituksen avulla analysoitiin suunnittelun aikaisia kehittämiseen ja yhteissuunnitteluun tähtääviä tapahtumia. Haastatteluiden ja teema-analyysin avulla etsittiin toistuvia teemoja. Aineiston analyysi johti kahteen merkittävään tulokseen. Ensimmäinen on kuvaus yhä ihmislähtöisemmästä suunnittelusta ja rakentamisen prosessista. Aineistosta erottuu kolme käyttäjälähtöisen kehittämisen tasoa, selkeät yhteiskehittämisen vaiheet rakennushankkeen rinnalle sekä kolme päätavoitetta yhteistyölle. Toinen merkittävä tulos on kirjallisuusosiossa kuvattu teoreettinen viitekehys käyttäjälähtöisyyden ja yhteiskehittämisen kypsyyden tunnistamiseksi. Tässä viitekehyksessä yhteiskehittämisen muodot jaetaan kolmeen osa-alueeseen: ei käyttäjäosallisuutta, jolloin painopiste on käyttäjätutkimuksessa ja inspiraation etsimisessä; käyttäjien osallistaminen, jolloin painopiste on demokraattisen päätöksenteon, viestinnän ja yhteisen ymmärryksen mahdollistamisessa; yhteiskehittämisessä, jolloin painopiste on yhteisessä tiedon luomisessa ja jaetussa asiantuntijuudessa. Tämä opinnäytetyötutkimus paljastaa, että onnistunut käyttäjälähtöinen kehittäminen vaatii yllä kuvattujen yhteiskehittämisen työmenetelmien strategista käyttöä. Tutkimustuloksista voi johtaa kehitysaihioita rakennushankkeiden strategisen menetelmän valintaan sekä yleisellä tasolla että painottaen alkuvaiheen yhteistä visiointia. Tutkimuksessa tunnistetaan myös useita aihioita lisätutkimukselle. Esimerkiksi muotoilun rooli yhteisen tahtotilan ja ymmärryksen luomisessa ennen arkkitehtisuunnittelua sekä palvelumuotoilun ja työympäristökehittämisen lähestymistapojen yhdistäminen osana alkuvaiheen käyttäjäymmärryksen luomista ovat mielenkiintoisia aiheita lisätutkimukselle. Kaiken kaikkiaan tutkimus pyrkii tuomaan arvokkaita oivalluksia niin ammatinharjoittajille kuin muillekin rakennushankkeisiin ryhtyville