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Lessons Learned
from a Successful Collaboration Between
Software Engineers and Human
Interface Engineers
Ellen A. Isaacs,
Trevor Morris, and
Thomas K. Rodriguez,
SunSoft, Inc., 2550 Garcia Ave., Mountain View, CA 94043 USA
ellen.isaacs@sun.com;
trevor.morris@sun.com;
tom.rodriguez@eng.sun.com
Reference: Isaacs, E.A., Morris, T. & Rodriguez, T.K. (1995).
Lessons Learned from a Successful Collaboration Between Software
Engineers and Human Interface Engineers, Lecture Notes in Computer
Science Berlin: Springer-Verlag, pp. 232-240.
(c) Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1995
Note: This is a digitized copy derived from a Springer-Verlag
copyrighted work. Springer-Verlag did not prepare this copy and does
not guarantee tht it is an accurate copy of the author's original
work.
- A PostScript version of this paper is available.
Abstract
Most software applications are difficult to use because the
development process emphasizes the quality of the architecture and not
the usability of the application. Programs can be both well engineered
and usable if software engineers work with human interface engineers
who not only design the user interface but advocate architectural
decisions that help make tasks more natural for users. Our group used
a process that reduced the workload of the software engineers and yet
produced a particularly usable and well-engineered application. This
process included designing the UI before coding, developing the
application's user interface in a UI builder, and regularly testing
the application with users under realistic conditions. This latter
point was an important achievement because it is critical and yet
particularly difficult to test collaborative applications. Carrying
out these activities enabled the software engineers and human
interface engineers to work closely together as a cooperative team
because everyone was able to contribute valued components to the
effort.
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