Starting from scratch: building a usability program at Union Pacific Railroad

Like many other information systems organizations , the Information Technology (IT) department at Union Pacific Railroad has been buffeted by conflicting forces during the last several years. While under increasing pressure to shorten software development cycles and lower system support costs, IT development managers are also expected to deliver corporate applications that are as easy to learn and use as off-the-shelf commercial software. At Union Pacific, the odds of achieving those goals are much greater now than they were just one year ago. This accomplishment is the direct result of a corporate decision to find a comprehensive, long-term solution to IT's software usability concerns. Under the leadership of Jerry Plemons, director of IT's usability efforts since August 1994, that original corporate initiative has steadily evolved into a full-fledged corporate usability program.