1 / 17

HFSD Methods

HFSD Methods. Objectives To consider types of systems To characterise methods for HF input into SD To identify HF contributions to SD To present specific HF methods & approaches To present some critical issues re HFSD. Types of systems.

dash
Download Presentation

HFSD Methods

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. HFSD Methods • Objectives • To consider types of systems • To characterise methods for HF input into SD • To identify HF contributions to SD • To present specific HF methods & approaches • To present some critical issues re HFSD HFSD Methods Nov 2002

  2. Types of systems • To consider how HF can be incorporated in the design and development of systems we must first recognise the different types of systems that may be developed • Generic systems • Made for release on the open market • Bespoke systems. Large & small scale • Government departments. SME In-house system

  3. HFSD • In the design and development of each of these types of systems must look for methods that will:- • Focus on users needs and capabilities • Enable the principles of software ergonomics to be applied • Take account of the organisational and work context within which the system will operate • Involve users • Enable Human factors principles to be applied throughout the design process, not just as part of an end-process evaluation

  4. Structured Analysis & Design Methods • Are widely used as these appear to support • The management of complexity – analysis and design is a systematic & documented process • Design team and user communication – decisions requirements and products • Quality assurance – verification, validation • Design prototyping evaluation & maintenance • Integration of human factors and software engineering design

  5. Incorporating HF into SADMs • Current SADMs are:- • Mostly Software Engineering and Data Analysis • Human factors is only implicit in the method or via consultancy • Human Factors is largely under-represented

  6. Characterising Methods for HF input to SD • Some questions which need to be asked include:- • Is the method aimed at producing a computer solution, can it also lead to a manual solution? • What type and scale of application is it best suited to? Small systems, large systems or both? • Which of the phases in the development of the system does the method cover – analysis, design, evaluation? • What is the precise scope of the method what assumptions does the method make re skills of the practitioners availability of tools? • Can the method be understood by end users?

  7. Examples of HF contributions to SD • Specification Phase • Soft Systems Analysis Checkland • Open Systems Task Analysis Eason • Design Phase • Software I/F Guidelines Schneiderman • Prototyping tools Demo2 Bricklin • Evaluation • Usability Labs Tyldley

  8. Contributions to HFSD (cont) • In addition several researchers and practitioners have attempted to develop methods that incorporate HF into the overall design process • Ethics Mumford 1983 • The HUSAT Research centre at LUT in the UK have developed three approaches to the input of HF in IT systems design • DIADEM • HUFIT • D Browne of KPMG (IT consultancy) developed STUDIO

  9. DIADEM • Is the Departmental Integrated Application Development Methodology • Methodology was designed for use by user representatives in large scale computerisation projects. In the UK is used in Government IT development projects Eg DHSS Benefits Systems • It is a superset of SSADM and provides 12 key human factors inputs • Stakeholder analysis – task analysis – user interface design – organisational impact analysis

  10. HUFIT • Human Factors in Information Technology • This tool was developed to be used in the planning, analysis and specification of systems • The tools are a set of 5 high level procedural paper based tools • The tools were designed to be used by non Human Factors experts in the design of generic IT products

  11. STUDIO • Structured User Interface Design for Interaction Optimisation • Is a method for the analysis and design of interfaces • Developed in response to inadequacies of existing SD methodologies to meet the needs of users • STUDIO consists of 5 stages which include • Planning – Requirements Analysis – Task synthesis – Usability engineering – User Interface development

  12. Commonalities • Research reveals that within each approach the methods need to:- • Be able to be used by recipients with little or no human factors expertise as HF specialists are in short supply • Enable adherence to the principles of user centred rather than techno-centred design • Incorporate human factors across the whole design process • Enable human factors to be incorporated as early as possible in the design process • Incorporate human factors in the QA process

  13. HFSD Critical Issues • The design task in generic product development is fundamentally different from the bespoke design task • In the former the users are more diverse and cannot be as closely or as widely involved as in the latter case • Design is a highly integrated task and as teams become large, the problem of coordination and control becomes critical

  14. HFSD Critical Issues (cont) • Large scale developments tend to use linear or ‘waterfall’ design methods, whereas in small scale developments it is more likely that ‘iterative’ methods using prototyping techniques are used • Software specialists are the majority in design teams and traditionally have the most power and influence but there are others with a ‘stake’ in the system whose views must be heard

  15. HFSD Critical Issues (cont) • Implementation of systems inevitably results in change both to individuals and organisations, there is a clear need to plan for change before the system is introduced • Even when technical solutions are possible, there may be human factors reasons why the system will not work as intended • Unless the users needs are considered at the beginning no amount of sophisticated re- programming is likely to hide deficiencies in the overall design

  16. HFSD Conclusion • HFSD is under-represented in most of the SD methods • Most of the SD methods are technically centred rather than user centred. There is also little evidence that the organisational consequences of implementing a system are considered • Where human factors is incorporated into the method it is often only implicit part of the design process rather than explicit

  17. HFSD Conclusion (cont) • There are few tools and methods which can support users in the specification of their requirements • Researchers and practitioners have attempted to develop tools to overcome this • HUFIT - STUDIO • Human factors needs to be presented as a value added & cost effective solution to the problems of designing interactive systems

More Related