Usability Evaluation of an XP Product

User-centered design (UCD) is a design approach that stresses attention to usability throughout the development process of software. However, with the growing interest in agile development methods, research attention has been focused on some aspects of incompatibility between agile development and the principles of UCD. There is a growing interest in finding a place for usability evaluations and UCD in the agile development framework. This paper presents the findings of an evaluation of an XP prototype using a discount, cooperative usability evaluation approach. The findings indicate that the evaluation setup, with modifications, could be used for iterative usability evaluation during the continuation of the XP project in question.

[1]  Kent L. Beck,et al.  Extreme programming explained - embrace change , 1990 .

[2]  Dennis R. Wixon Evaluating usability methods: why the current literature fails the practitioner , 2003, INTR.

[3]  Klaus Kaasgaard,et al.  Comparative usability evaluation , 2004, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[4]  Andrew Monk,et al.  Improving Your Human-Computer Interface: A Practical Technique , 1993 .

[5]  Jakob Nielsen,et al.  Guerrilla HCI: using discount usability engineering to penetrate the intimidation barrier , 1994 .

[6]  Clayton Lewis,et al.  Making usable, useful, productivity-enhancing computer applications , 1991, CACM.

[7]  Desirée Sy,et al.  Adapting usability investigations for agile user-centered design , 2007 .

[8]  Alistair Cockburn,et al.  Agile Software Development: The Business of Innovation , 2001, Computer.

[9]  Joseph F. Dumas,et al.  A Practical Guide to Usability Testing , 1993 .

[10]  Pekka Abrahamsson,et al.  Usability Assessment of an Extreme Programming Project: Close Co-operation with the Customer Does Not Equal to Good Usability , 2004, PROFES.

[11]  Jakob Nielsen,et al.  Heuristic Evaluation of Prototypes (individual) , 2022 .

[12]  David Kane,et al.  Finding a place for discount usability engineering in agile development: throwing down the gauntlet , 2003, Proceedings of the Agile Development Conference, 2003. ADC 2003.

[13]  Frank Maurer,et al.  UCD in agile projects: dream team or odd couple? , 2005, INTR.

[14]  Daniel A. Keim,et al.  Pixel bar charts: a visualization technique for very large multi-attribute data sets? , 2002, Inf. Vis..

[15]  Ahmed Seffah,et al.  The obstacles and myths of usability and software engineering , 2004, CACM.

[16]  Teuvo Kohonen,et al.  Self-Organizing Maps , 2010 .

[17]  Carol M. Barnum,et al.  Usability testing and research , 2001 .

[18]  Ralph-Johan Back,et al.  Software Development and Experimentation in an Academic Environment: The Gaudi Experience , 2005, PROFES.

[19]  Kasper Hornbæk,et al.  Cooperative usability testing: complementing usability tests with user-supported interpretation sessions , 2005, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[20]  Neil A. M. Maiden,et al.  Towards a Framework for Integrating Agile Development and User-Centred Design , 2006, XP.

[21]  Richard B. Dull,et al.  A Comparison of Three Visual Representations of Complex Multidimensional Accounting Information , 1999, J. Inf. Syst..

[22]  Karen Holtzblatt,et al.  An Agile Customer-Centered Method: Rapid Contextual Design , 2004, XP/Agile Universe.

[23]  A. Cockburn,et al.  Agile Software Development: The People Factor , 2001, Computer.

[24]  D. Scott McCrickard,et al.  Towards Extreme(ly) Usable Software: Exploring Tensions Between Usability and Agile Software Development , 2007, Agile 2007 (AGILE 2007).

[25]  Gerard Meszaros,et al.  Adding usability testing to an agile project , 2006, AGILE 2006 (AGILE'06).

[26]  Jakob Nielsen,et al.  Usability engineering , 1997, The Computer Science and Engineering Handbook.

[27]  T. Kohonen,et al.  Visual Explorations in Finance with Self-Organizing Maps , 1998 .

[28]  Morten Hertzum,et al.  The Evaluator Effect: A Chilling Fact About Usability Evaluation Methods , 2001, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[29]  Martin Fowler,et al.  Planning Extreme Programming , 2000 .

[30]  Kaisa Sere,et al.  Managing Complexity in Large Data Bases Using Self-Organizing Maps , 1996 .

[31]  Robert C. Camp,et al.  Benchmarking: The Search for Industry Best Practices That Lead to Superior Performance , 1989 .

[32]  Jeffrey Rubin,et al.  Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests , 1994 .

[33]  Alan S. Koch,et al.  Agile Software Development: Evaluating the Methods for Your Organization , 2004 .

[34]  L. Faulkner Beyond the five-user assumption: Benefits of increased sample sizes in usability testing , 2003, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[35]  A. Bendell,et al.  Benchmarking for Competitive Advantage , 1993 .

[36]  Shane Moriarity,et al.  Communicating Financial Information Through Multidimensional Graphics , 1979 .

[37]  Robert A. Virzi,et al.  Refining the Test Phase of Usability Evaluation: How Many Subjects Is Enough? , 1992 .

[38]  Dorina Marghescu Multi-dimensional Data Visualization Techniques for Exploring Financial Performance Data , 2007, AMCIS.

[39]  Richard B. Dull,et al.  Using control charts to monitor financial reporting of public companies , 2004, Int. J. Account. Inf. Syst..