Usability Development Life Cycle

MIS Graduation Project
Information Technology Projects’ life Cycle
Future University in Egypt (FUE) - College of Commerce and Business Administration

Learning Objectives:
By the end of the class, students will be able to:
 Identify IT Projects’ Life Cycle
 Develop a formal IT Project’s Life Cycle

Technology Product Development Life Cycle
 Technology Product Development is not a one-shot affair; Rather, it is a

set of activities that ideally take place throughout the lifecycle of the project,
with significant activities happening at the early stages before the
implementation of the product.
 The least expensive way for technology projects is to do as much as

possible before the design of the product is started, since it will then not be
necessary to change the design and may make it possible to avoid developing
unnecessary features.
1. User Analysis (Know the User)
2. Task Analysis
3. Setting Goals
4. Parallel - Participatory Design
5. Apply Interface Design Guidelines (Day)
6. Prototyping
7. Testing (Day)
8. Feedback from Field Use
1. User Analysis (Know the User) 1/2
 Individual user characteristics and variability in tasks are the two
factors with the largest impact on technology product development, so
they need to be studied carefully.
 The concept of user should be defined to include everybody whose work is

affected by the product in some way (ex. administrator,…), including the
users of the end product or output (ex. report receivers,…) even if they never
see a single screen.
 By identifying the users’ profession and computer experience, education

level, age, and whether they will have the opportunity for attending training
courses, it would be possible to anticipate their learning difficulties and to
better set appropriate limits for the interface complexity.
1. User Analysis (Know the User) 2/2
 The users’ work environment and social context also need to be
known (ex: use of the beeps for audible error alarm).
 In some situations it is easy to identify the users as concrete individuals (ex.

technology product for specific school-class). For other products, users may
be the entire population or a very large subset (ex. Internet Portal for teachers’
professional development).
On the first case Knowing the user may be achieved through observing and
talking to actual users in their own working place. On the second case this
could be achieved through market analysis, observational studies of
competitive systems and/or wide range surveys.
2. Task Analysis 1/3
 The user’s overall goals should be studied, as well as their
information needs. The weaknesses of the current (non-technological)
solutions present opportunities for improvements in the new products.
 Sometimes, observing how user interacts with the current product can
provide additional task analysis insights. The users’ model of the task can
be used as a source for Metaphors for the interface (ex: Windows desktop).
 A typical outcome of a task analysis is a list of all the things users want to
accomplish with the system, all the steps that need to be performed and the
interdependencies between these steps, and all the various outcomes and
reports that need to be produced.
 A new technology product should not be designed simply to replace ways of
doing things that may have limitations in previous technologies. Therefore, one
should not analyze just the way users currently do the task, but also the
underlying functional reason for the task: what is it that really needs to be done.
 Example1: An initial observations of people reading printed manuals could show that the main
task is turning pages to move through the document, a naïve design of an online documentation
might take this observation to imply a simple scrolling mechanism. A task analysis would show that
users turn pages to find specific information. Accordingly, a good design should allow users to
specify their search needs and jump directly to these locations.
 Example2: The design of computer-based communication tools application

should not emulate the face-to-face interaction, instead, they should be built to
take advantage of the strengths of the medium such as searchable achieves,
and automated replies and filters.
 After sometime using the technology product, users become experts and use the product
differently. The design, for example, should accommodate wizards for novice users plus
accelerators for expert users, giving access to advanced features to modify given charts. It is
important not to design just for the way users will us the product in the first short period after its
release.
Evaluation for competitive products would provide ideas for a new design
and give a list for approaches that seem to work and those that should be
avoided. This does not imply stealing other people’s copyrighted interface
designs.
 Sometimes, competitive evaluation will involve the study of non-

technological product.

2. Task Analysis
3. Setting Goals
3. Setting Goals
 In general, Technological Products aim to improve the following goals:
 Learnability Memorability
 Efficiency Satisfaction
 Not all usability aspects can be given equal weight. For example
Learnability would be especially important if new student/ school staff..
Memorability would be especially important for updates utility that is used
once every three or four months.
 For a new version of an existing product or for products that have

defined competitor, The goal would be derived as an improvement that
is sufficiently large to induce users to move to the new version.
 It is often a good idea to start the design with a parallel design process, in
which several different designers work out independently on preliminary
designs. The goal is to explore different design alternatives before one settles
on a single approach that can be then implemented.
 It is possible to combine designs, taking advantages of the best ideas

from each design (ex: combine interface ideas designed for novice
users and others optimized for experts users).
 Representative users should be involved in the design process through

regular meetings between designers and users. Instead of narrative
brainstorming, prototypes can be used to prompt user discussion.

2. Task Analysis
3. Setting Goals
6. Prototyping
6. Prototype
 Computer-based Prototyping aims to save on the time and cost to develop something that can be
tested with real users. Vertical Prototyping includes in-depth functionality but for a few selected
features (ex: user can search and access real data). Horizontal Prototyping includes the entire user
interface but with no underlying functionality (ex: user can execute all navigation and search
commands but without retrieving real data)
 Paper Mock-Up can replace computer-based prototypes, they are printouts of screens
designs, dialogue boxes, menus. Thought they are not interactive, paper mock-ups have the
advantage that they can be shown to larger groups. During sessions, users can modify the
paper designs using multiple layers of sticky notes that can be changed by colored pens.
 Scenarios are narrative that describe sequences of a task within the

system for collecting users’ feedback.
 This investigates how users use the product for naturally doing tasks
in their real-world working environment. The objective is to gather data
for the next version and for new products.
 This is usually done through satisfaction surveys, interviews, and

observation that might or not confirm the testing results.
 Feedback could be also collected from complaints, modification

requests, and calls to help lines. Data can also be gathered from
instructors who teach how to use the product for users.
Data on the impact of the product on the quality of the users’ work can be
collected from supervisors’ opinions and statistics for absenteeism, this
should be compared with similar data collected before the introduction of the
product.
2. Task Analysis
3. Setting Goals
6. Prototyping
7. Testing (Day)
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the class, students will be able to:
 Identify IT Projects’ Life Cycle
 Develop a formal IT Project’s Life Cycle

Thank you

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MIS Graduation Project

Information Technology Projects’ life Cycle

Future University in Egypt (FUE) - College of Commerce and Business Administration

By the end of the class, students will be able to:

 Identify IT Projects’ Life Cycle

 Develop a formal IT Project’s Life Cycle

 Technology Product Development is not a one-shot affair; Rather, it is a

 The least expensive way for technology projects is to do as much as

 The concept of user should be defined to include everybody whose work is

 By identifying the users’ profession and computer experience, education

 In some situations it is easy to identify the users as concrete individuals (ex.

 Example2: The design of computer-based communication tools application

 Sometimes, competitive evaluation will involve the study of non-

1. User Analysis (Know the User)

 For a new version of an existing product or for products that have

 It is possible to combine designs, taking advantages of the best ideas

 Representative users should be involved in the design process through

1. User Analysis (Know the User)

 Scenarios are narrative that describe sequences of a task within the

 This is usually done through satisfaction surveys, interviews, and

 Feedback could be also collected from complaints, modification

By the end of the class, students will be able to:

 Identify IT Projects’ Life Cycle

 Develop a formal IT Project’s Life Cycle

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