Systematic Sources of Suboptimal Interface Design in Large Product Development Organizations

Many poor interface features are the result of carelessness, ignorance, or neglect in the development process. For these features, methods such as user involvement in iterative design with prototyping, the use of check lists and guidelines, and even formal evaluation can be of great help. However, there are strong forces present in development environments that block the use of such methods and distort interface designs in a systematic way. Because these forces serve legitimate goals, such as making a design simpler, more easily communicated, or more marketable, they are more difficult to counter; because developers are skilled at working toward those goals, the tangential effects on the interface usually pass unnoticed. This descriptive, empirical article describes these forces in the context of large organizations developing commercial off-the-shelf software products. Most points are supported by examples and by a logical argument. Not all of the phenomena may appear in a given development organization, but the overall picture of a complex environment in which interface development requires unwavering attention is quite general.