The interactive software ergonomics: a question of method

Despite the stated objectives, i.e. the design of interactive systems useful, easy and fun to use, the design teams and development rarely apply the methods of research to guide their choices.

Although the method of user testing is "popular" in a growing number of projects (software products or the general public), efforts mostly concern the evaluation of finished products.

It is then to assess the conformity of products with different standards or style guides available. Most teams seldom apply methods in ergonomic design and development and, despite data showing by example that the task analysis and activity of users associated with the iterative evaluation during development increases significantly the effectiveness and acceptability of interactive systems.

Furthermore, it was also shown that informal assessments conducted by designers, developers, "marketers" and even users do not provide data sufficiently reliable and accurate to increase the ergonomic quality of interactive systems.

Why the evaluation does it not usually part of the design cycle?
Part of the answer lies in the strength of leadership that is not clear what brought the ergonomic methods, convinced that the project managers or developers can design and develop interfaces and they have nothing to learn from ergonomists.

But another part of the answer is also in attitudes and behaviors of some ergonomists requesting material resources (equipment, procedures, etc.). Personal and which go far beyond what is strictly necessary to guide the design. The ergonomic approach appears to be too expensive compared to what it can bring.
But two other reasons may explain this situation.

The first is very human that people think can explain the determinants of their own behavior. But experience shows us that this is not the case. The second reason is the tendency we have to think that what is true for us is always for others and to underestimate the behavioral inter-individual variability.

In other words, when we have no problem with a particular software, the tendency is to think that the others will not and vice versa. Yet research has demonstrated the importance of individual differences are many. Nevertheless, improving the ergonomic quality of interactive systems can not do the methods of behavioral research.

These must be adapted to the field of ergonomics. Indeed, if the behavioral sciences and experimental psychology offer many experimental designs such as factorial designs (discussed in subsequent articles), other methods, more observational and exploratory, may be applied depending on the objectives pursued