The Usability Engineering Lifecycle: A Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design (Interactive Technologies) [Paperback]

Deborah J. Mayhew (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 1999 | ISBN-10: 1558605614 | ISBN-13: 978-1558605619 | Edition: 1

A commitment to usability in user interface design and development offers enormous benefits, including greater user productivity, more competitive products, lower support costs, and a more efficient development process. But what does it mean to be committed to usability? Inside, a twenty-year expert answers this question in full, presenting the techniques of Usability Engineering as a series of product lifecycle tasks that result directly in easier-to-learn, easier-to-use software.
You'll learn to perform a complete requirements analysis and then incorporate the resulting goals and constraints in a highly structured, iterative design and development process. This process doesn't end with installation but instead begins anew with the collection of user feedback that will guide further development. Also covered are organizational issues related to the implementation of Usability Engineering, including cost justification, project planning, and organizational structures.

* Unites all current UE techniques in a single, authoritative resource, presenting a coherent lifecycle process in which each clearly defined task leads directly the next.
* Teaches concrete, immediately usable skills to practitioners in all kinds of product development organizations-from internal departments to commercial developers to consultants.
* Contains examples of actual software development projects and the ways in which they have benefited from Usability Engineering.
* Deals in specifics, not generalities-provides detailed templates and instructions for every phase of the Usability Engineering lifecycle.
* Pays special attention to Web site development and explains how Usability Engineering principles can be applied to the development of any interactive product.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A commitment to usability in user interface design and development offers enormous benefits, including greater user productivity, more competitive products, lower support costs, and a more efficient development process. But what does it mean to be committed to usability? Inside, a twenty-year expert answers this question in full, presenting the techniques of Usability Engineering as a series of product lifecycle tasks that result directly in easier-to-learn, easier-to-use software.
You'll learn to perform a complete requirements analysis and then incorporate the resulting goals and constraints in a highly structured, iterative design and development process. This process doesn't end with installation but instead begins anew with the collection of user feedback that will guide further development. Also covered are organizational issues related to the implementation of Usability Engineering, including cost justification, project planning, and organizational structures.

Features

• Unites all current UE techniques in a single, authoritative resource, presenting a coherent lifecycle process in which each clearly defined task leads directly the next.
  
• Teaches concrete, immediately usable skills to practitioners in all kinds of product development organizations-from internal departments to commercial developers to consultants.
  
• Contains examples of actual software development projects and the ways in which they have benefited from Usability Engineering.
  
• Deals in specifics, not generalities-provides detailed templates and instructions for every phase of the Usability Engineering lifecycle.
  
• Pays special attention to Web site development and explains how Usability Engineering principles can be applied to the development of any interactive product.

About the Author

Dr. Deborah J. Mayhew is owner and principal of Deborah J. Mayhew & Associates, a consulting firm based in Massachusetts, offering courses and consulting on all aspects of Usability Engineering and user interface design. Clients include American Airlines, AT&T, Ford,Harvard Univeristy, and NASA. Dr. Mayhew received her Ph.D. in Experimental Cognitive Psychology from Tufts University. She is the author of Principles and Guidelines in Software User Interface Design (Prentice Hall), a coeditor of Cost-Justifying Usability (Academic Press), and a contributor to Human Factors and Web Development.

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (April 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558605614
• ISBN-13: 978-1558605619
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #913,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must buy for human computer engineers, January 16, 2000

By 

335 "335" (Anywhere, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Usability Engineering Lifecycle: A Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback)

This book gives concrete data on the "how-to" of usability engineering and realistic data regarding the *selling process* of these concepts to management. Additionally, it can function as a "how-to" handbook with its many examples. To name a few, the examples include: pre-evaluation, evaluation and post-evaluation questionnaries, data collection sheets and data analysis and report sheets.

The book has a fantastic index for quick reference and is organized well.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good reference for big projects, July 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Usability Engineering Lifecycle: A Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback)

Perhaps the first attempt to put a professional, repeatable engineering process onto UI Design for improved usability of systems and products. It is unique because it tries for the first time to integrate UI Design with established software development methodologies. This is comprehensive, very readable, and a highly usable book. GUI Design for the professional. Another must have book for the serious HCI people. Rather too many models and slightly too much of a grand design for the practical developer

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful, usable, and informative book, June 20, 1999

By 

[e-mail] Gabriel Spitz (Hollis, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Usability Engineering Lifecycle: A Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback)

A great book for every Usability practitioner. Not only did I find the content of this book very informative and very useful, but in particular I liked the structure of the book and found it extremely usable. Each chapter contains context information at the beginning of the chapter, an out line of the chapter, summary notes on the side bar for quick review, sample techniques and forms, war stories, estimation of resources required to complete each step, etc This structure makes the book one of the most usable books I have ever used, and therefore one of the most useful companion in designing the user interface.