Books DJMA Home

Each page in this section describes a book that Dr. Mayhew has authored, co-edited or provided chapters to.

Read Feedback from Dr. Mayhew's clients, students and readers.
The Usability Engineering Lifecycle

by Deborah J. Mayhew, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1999, ISBN # 1-55860-561-4

Order this book from Amazon.com now by clicking on the link to the left.

The Usability Engineering Lifecycle is based on Dr. Mayhew's very popular Tutorial which has been presented each year at the annual ACM SIGCHI conference since 1986.

This book is aimed at user interface designers, developers and usability practitioners. The purpose of the book is to teach a lifecycle of usability engineering tasks for structuring the process of designing optimal user interfaces. The lifecycle is intended to be integrated within an existing product development methodology to either traditional software applications or web sites and applications.

From this book, readers will learn:
  • How to apply usability requirements analysis techniques to set the stage for effective user interface design
  • How to formulate the different kinds of usability goals and then use them to drive and manage the design process
  • The difference between workflow design and user interface design and how they interact
  • How to use requirements analysis data to design and validate workflow design
  • How to conduct user interface design in a structured, top-down process that is driven directly by requirements analysis data and usability goals
  • How to conduct objective usability evaluation techniques to refine and validate design ideas
  • How to adapt and tailor the general Usability Engineering Lifecycle to their unique corporate culture, product development methodology and projects
  • How to adapt the lifecycle to support the unique aspects of web development projects

SPECIAL FEATURES:

  • A coherent framework for managing the optimal design of product user interfaces within the context of existing product development methodologies
  • Step-by-step procedures for carrying out all lifecycle tasks
  • Many real and rich examples of the work products from each lifecycle task, showing how the tasks work together towards optimal user interface design
  • Advice on how to adapt, tailor and implement The Usability Engineering Lifecycle according to variations in corporate cultures, existing product development methodologies and specific projects
  • Specific advice on how to adapt the lifecycle approach to web development projects
  • Case studies and "war stories" from Dr. Mayhew's extensive experience with the lifecycle approach

You can see a lifecycle flowchart elsewhere on this site for a visual illustration of The Usability Engineering Lifecycle.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

The following sections and chapters are included:

  1. Introduction

    Requirements Analysis

  2. User Profile
  3. Contextual Task Analysis
  4. Usability Goal Setting
  5. Platform Capabilities/Constraints
  6. General Design Principles

    Design/Testing/Development

  7. Workflow Reengineering
  8. Conceptual Model Design
  9. Conceptual Model Mockups
  10. Iterative Conceptual Model Testing
  11. Screen Design Standards
  12. Screen Design Standards Prototyping
  13. Iterative Screen Design Standards Testing
  14. Style Guide
  15. Detailed User Interface Design
  16. Iterative Detailed User Interface Design Testing

    Installation

  17. User Feedback
  18. Lifecycle Summary

    Organizational Issues

  19. Usability Project Planning
  20. Cost-Justification
  21. Organizational Roles and Structures