Analysis and implementation of usability evaluation methods within agile software development environments

Abstract

The increasing importance of computational systems in the daily life has resulted in an inherently multidisciplinary effort with regards to software development. This brings up the question of how to develop interactive systems in order to better leverage the perspectives, practices, and knowledge bases of different areas. The Human-Computer Interaction and Software Engineering fields, for example, are traditionally addressed separately, thus the methods and techniques of one are not known in detail in another. The popularity and continual adoption of Agile development - SE - along with the growing awareness of the importance of good User Experience - HCI - highlighted the need for an integration of these two areas. However, Agile Development has a distinct culture that, at first glance, seems to conflict with the User-Centered Design - HCI design process. Thus, the integration of these two areas becomes a challenge. Thus, this research project aims to integrate these two areas - HCI and SE - with regards to Agile Development and User-Centered Design, proposing the extension and validation of the framework presented in the doctoral thesis of the applicant, focusing mainly the activity of Usability Evaluation. The validation of this project is based on an empirical methodology for introducing software process in the industry and it will be implemented in partner companies. (AU)