Managing usability evaluation practices in agile development environments

Usability evaluation is a core usability activity that minimizes risks and improves product quality. The returns from usability evaluation are undeniable. Neglecting such evaluation at the development stage negatively affects software usability. In this paper, the authors develop a software management tool used to incorporate usability evaluation activities into the agile environment. Using this tool, agile development teams can manage a continuous evaluation process, tightly coupled with the development process, allowing them to develop high quality software products with adequate level of usability. The tool was evaluated through verification, followed by the validation on satisfaction. The evaluation results show that the tool increased software development practitioner satisfaction and is practical for supporting usability work in software projects.

A Guideline Tool for Ongoing Product Evaluation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

As consumer demand for user friendly software increases, usability evaluation is crucial to develop software systems which are easy to learn and use. However, implementation of usability evaluation is challenging for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) due to factors such as lack of technical expertise, knowledge and experience of methods and standards. This results in neglect, or poorly executed evaluations of projects, resulting in software that disappoints and frustrates clients. To overcome this loss of competitiveness, we propose here a visual incorporation tool derived from ISO standards that would assist software development teams in SMEs in understanding and implementing usability evaluations. It shows fundamental Usability Engineering (UE) and Software Engineering (SE) activities and artifacts relevant to the usability evaluation and software development process, with potential incorporation points being highlighted. Dependencies and relationships are shown by links between activities and artifacts. Additionally, convergent artifacts of both disciplines were identified and shown. Evaluation of the proposed tool was based on the questionnaire results of software development practitioners from SMEs

On Implementing Usability Evaluation Activities within Agile Environment: A Plan Based-Process

In fast-paced software development cycles, poor governance may cause a loss of focus on the overarching objectives and implementation of usability work. We propose a conceptual framework that would assist software development teams in understanding and implementing usability evaluations in the described agile environments. The framework provides a common language that conveys the “big picture” of software development, details the roles needed for usability, and facilitates the analysis, discussion and communication of responsibilities and decision structures. The framework is supported by a visual mapping guideline that eases discussion and simplifies the process of incorporating usability work in companies