Workshop title: “Usage-Centered Software Engineering”
Duration: 4 hours
Larry Constantine, IDSA
Chief Scientist, Constantine & Lockwood Ltd.
The success of software and Web applications depends critically
on usability--on how well the software meets the genuine needs
of users and how readily it can be put to use. Designing software
for use can dramatically reduce the costs of training, documentation,
and support. Unfortunately, most modern software engineering approaches
neglect users and usability.
Usage-centered design is a proven, industrial-strength software
engineering process centered on producing highly usable software.
It has been integrated with development approaches as diverse
as the Unified Process and Extreme Programming and has an established
decade-long track record on varied development projects ranging
from modest stand-alone applications in Web commerce and education
to extremely large multi-tiered systems. It has been applied with
particular success in fields where user performance and reliable
interaction is critical, such as in medical informatics and industrial
automation.
In this workshop, the co-inventor of usage-centered design will
present a practical, hands-on introduction to usage-centered software
engineering. Participants will learn how a model-driven approach
based on sound design principles can generate better user interface
designs within their own software development environments.
Topics to be covered include:
- simplified techniques for quickly organizing information
about users and user tasks
- modeling users and user needs with user roles and essential
use cases
- using abstract prototypes to simplify design
- model-driven visual and interaction design
- integrating usage-centered techniques with varied software
development processes
The major focus will be on using task modeling with essential
use cases to provide a common thread throughout an integrated
usage-centered software engineering process. Participants will
leave with an understanding of the process, a familiarity with
the basic techniques, and the insight to make decisions about
deploying usage-centered design.
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