HCI User-Centered Design Process

Phase 1 -- We begin with a task analysis, where we identify all the stakeholders, examine existing systems and processes (whether they be paper-based or computerized) and identify ways and means to streamline and improve the process. Tasks at this phase are to conduct background research, interview stakeholders, and observe people conducting tasks.

Phase 2 -- Once we have an agreed-upon objective and set of functional requirements, we go through a design phase to generate a design that meets all the requirements. The goal of the design process is to develop a coherent, easy to understand software front-end that "makes sense" to the eventual users of the system. We iterate on the design/review cycle until we are satisfied with our design.

Phase 3 -- The next phase is implementation and test. We are also developing and implementing any performance support aids (i.e., on-line help, paper manuals, etc.) as necessary.

Phase 4 -- Once we have a functional system, we move into the final phase. What constitutes "success" is that people using our system, whether it be an intelligent tutoring system or on-line decision aid, are able to "see" solutions that they could not see before and/or better understand the constraints that are in place. We generally conduct formal experiments, comparing performance using our system (with perhaps different features turned on and off) to make contributions to the literature on decision support and HCI.