The Politics of Usability

Usability engineering makes computer systems easier to use and more relevant to business needs. Although much research has been done into methods and techniques for usability engineering, there is little available on how to put this into practice in a commercial environment. This book, written by usability professionals from a variety of non-IT organizations, take readers through the process of starting and running a Usability Group, alerting readers to potential political problems, implementation difficulties and possible solutions.

Contenu

1 - The Politics of Funding: Justifying Your Existence.- 1. Making a Business Case for Usability and Beyond - the Fight for Survival.- 2. Selling Usability Services.- 2 - The Politics of Set Up: What to Do with the Money once You Have Got it.- 3. Overcoming Inertia within a Large Organization.- 4. Integrating Usability into Systems Development.- 5. A Structured Approach to User Interface Design.- 6. Making Usability Part of the Culture.- 3 - The Politics of Survival: Keeping Usability on the Political Map.- 7. A Change is as Good as a Test.- 8. Consultants with Clout.- 9. Cultivating an Effective Client Relationship to Promote a User-Centred Culture.- 4 - The Politics of Expansion: How to Work Effectively on an International, Multi-Cultural Level.- 10. "Oh, so That's the Way You Do it over There!".- 11. Spreading the Word: Introducing Usability Evaluation on an International Scale.- 12. Standards and Style Guides - A Cross-Cultural Perspective.- 13. Usability Practice in the United States: Perception versus Reality.- 14. Round the World in 18 Days.