Gilbert Cockton – författare

"Maturing Usability" provides an understanding of how current research and practice has contributed towards improving quality issues in software, interaction and value.

Divided into three parts, ‘Quality in Software’ looks at how using development tools can enhance the usability of a system, and how methods and models can be integrated into the process to help develop effective user interfaces. ‘Quality in Interaction’ addresses theoretical frameworks on the nature of interactions; techniques and metrics for evaluation interaction quality; and the transfer of concepts and methods from research to practice. Finally, ‘Quality in Value’ assesses the impact that a system has in the real world, focusing on increasing the value of usability practice for software development and on increasing value for users.

A balance between theoretical and empirical approaches is maintained throughout, and all those interested in exploring usability issues in human-computer interaction will find this a very useful book.

Design now has many meanings. For some, it is the creation of value. For others, it is the conception and creation of artefacts. For still others it is fitting things to people. These differences reflect disciplinary values that both overlap and diverge. All involve artefacts: we always design things. Each definition considers people and purpose in some way. Each handles evaluation differently, measuring against aesthetics, craft standards, specifications, sales, usage experiences, or usage outcomes. There are both merits and risks in these differences, without an appropriate balance. Poor balance can result from professions claiming the centre of design for their discipline, marginalising others. Process can also cause imbalance when allocating resources to scheduled stages. Balance is promoted by replacing power centres with power sharing, and divisive processes with integrative progressions. A focus on worth guides design towards worthwhile experiences and outcomes that generously exceed expectations.

This book places a worth focus (Wo-Fo) in the context of design progressions that are Balanced, Integrated, and Generous (BIG). BIG and Wo-Fo are symbiotic. Worth provides a focus for generosity. Effective Wo-Fo needs BIG practices.

This book introduces the concept of worth for design teams, relates it to experiences and outcomes, and describes how to focus on worth when researching and expressing design opportunities for generous worth. Truly interdisciplinary teams also need an appropriate common language, which was developed in the companion book Worth-Focused Design, Book 1: Balance, Integration, and Generosity (Cockton, 2020a). Its new lexicon for design progressions enables a framework for design and evaluation that works well with a worth focus.

Design now has different meanings based upon the approach of different disciplinary practices. For some, it is the creation of value. For others, it is the conception and creation of artefacts. For still others, it is fitting things to people (beneficiaries). While each of these design foci has merits, there are risks in not having an appropriate balance across professions that claim the centre of design for their discipline and marginalise others.Generosity is key to the best creative design—delivering unexpected worth beyond documented needs, wants, or pain points. Truly interdisciplinary design must also balance and integrate approaches across several communities of practice, which is made easier by common ground. Worth provides a productive focus for this common ground and is symbiotic with balanced, integrated, and generous (BIG) practices. Practices associated with balance and integration for worth-focused generosity are illustrated in several case studies that have used approaches in this book, complementing them with additional practices.

Developed from a workshop held at NordiCHI in 2014, this edited volume brings together researchers from across the software development, UCD and creative design fields to discuss the current state-of-the-art. Practical case studies of integrating UCD in Agile development across diverse contexts are presented, whilst the different futures for UCD and other design practices in the context of agile software development are identified and explored.

Integrating User Centred Design in Agile Development will be ideal for researchers, designers and academics who are interested in software development, user-centred design, agile methodologies and related areas.