Cost-Justifying Usability

An Update for the Internet Age

By: Deborah J Mayhew

Write A Review

Paperback | 4 April 2005 | Edition Number 2

At a Glance

Paperback
640 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 18.42 x 3.18

Paperback

RRP $138.95

$129.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $32.44 with

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

You just know that an improvement of the user interface will reap rewards, but how do you justify the expense and the labor and the time-guarantee a robust ROI!-ahead of time? How do you decide how much of an investment should be funded? And what is the best way to sell usability to others?

In this completely revised and new edition, Randolph G. Bias (University of Texas at Austin, with 25 years' experience as a usability practitioner and manager) and Deborah J. Mayhew (internationally recognized usability consultant and author of two other seminal books including The Usability Engineering Lifecycle) tackle these and many other problems. It has been updated to cover cost-justifying usability for Web sites and intranets, for the complex applications we have today, and for a host of products-offering techniques, examples, and cases that are unavailable elsewhere. No matter what type of product you build, whether or not you are a cost-benefit expert or a born salesperson, this book has the tools that will enable you to cost-justify the appropriate usability investment.

·Includes contributions by a host of experts involved in this work, including Aaron Marcus, Janice Rohn, Chauncey Wilson, Nigel Bevan, Dennis Wixon, Clare-Marie Karat, Susan Dray, Charles Mauro, and many others;
·Includes actionable ideas for every phase of the software development process;
·Includes case studies from inside a variety of companies;
·Includes ideas from "the other side of the table," software executives who hold the purse strings, who offer thoughts on which proposals for usability support they've funded, and which ones they've declined.

Industry Reviews

"HCI professionals will repeat quotes with statistics, learn from case studies, and copy chapters for their managers. Thorough & thoughtful, practical & actionable-- readers will be able to put the ideas to work immediately!" -Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland "Cost-Justifying Usability" delivers much more than the promise of its title. Each chapter is worth the price of admission! I found more useful ideas and creative thinking in this book than I've come across in one place in years. Moreover, the collection of articles goes far beyond what the book title might suggest: it not only offers the definitive treatment of determining ROI for usability, but also provides a complete overview of usability considerations for getting you there. From specific calculations to help you with extending the business case, to introducing ethnography into the product development process, Cost Justifying Usability offers a treasure of gems for every user-centered design professional." -Dominick J. Dellino, Director of User Research and Testing, Washington Mutual

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $79.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Computing & I.T.Operating Systems Computer Science Human-Computer Interaction Computer Programming & Software Development Software Engineering Economics Microeconomics Business & Management

Preface	p. xxiii
Greetings, and Best Wishes	p. xxiii
The Book	p. xxiii
The Audience	p. xxvi
Acknowledgements	p. xxvi
Justifying Cost-Justifying Usability	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Lessons from the Past: Seminal Research on Return on Investment in Human Factors in the 1980s and 1990s	p. 3
www.SoWhat	p. 5
Who Are All Those People?	p. 6
If I Had a Hammer, I Wouldn't Necessarily Be a Carpenter	p. 6
The Tug of "Internet Time"	p. 7
The Old "Get Something Out There" Approach Doesn't Work Anymore	p. 8
The Dangers of Amateur Usability Engineering	p. 9
More Capabilities Means More Novice Users	p. 12
The World Is More Complex, so It Is Harder to Know What All the Possibilities Are	p. 12
Isn't It Obvious?	p. 13
Not "If" but "Which"	p. 14
The Solution: Approach, Tools, and Communication	p. 14
References	p. 15
User Interface Design's Return on Investment: Examples and Statistics	p. 17
Introduction: What Do We Mean by the Return on Investment of Usability?	p. 17
How can we "Prove" the Return on Investment? Some Examples and Statistics	p. 18
Overall Value of Implementing User Interface Practices	p. 19
Development: Reduce Costs	p. 19
Sales: Increase Revenue	p. 26
Use: Improve Effectiveness	p. 29
Other Return on Investment Factors	p. 33
Conclusion	p. 34
Acknowledgments	p. 36
References	p. 36
A Basic Framework	p. 41
Introduction	p. 41
The Usability Engineering Lifecycle	p. 42
Phase One: Requirements Analysis	p. 45
Phase Two: Design/Testing/Development	p. 48
Phase Three: Installation	p. 53
General Approach	p. 55
Sample Cost-Benefit Analyses	p. 57
An Application for Internal Users	p. 59
A Commercial Application by a Vendor Company	p. 80
An E-Commerce Site	p. 86
A Product Information Site	p. 92
Summary	p. 96
References	p. 100
A Business Case Approach to Usability Cost Justification for the Web	p. 103
Introduction	p. 103
Why Measure the Cost Benefit of Human Factors?	p. 105
Usability Engineering in Web Site and Application Lifecycles	p. 107
What Contributions Can Usability Engineering Demonstrate?	p. 108
What Is Cost-Benefit Analysis?	p. 116
How Do Cost-Benefit Analyses Relate to Business Cases?	p. 116
Assessing Costs and Benefits of Usability Engineering	p. 118
Benefit Calculations Examples	p. 120
Increased Sales or Revenues Resulting from Increased Completion Rates on a Web Site	p. 120
Increased Sales and Revenue from Repeat Visits to a Web Site	p. 121
Increased Sales or Revenues	p. 121
Increased User Productivity	p. 122
Decreased Personnel Costs	p. 123
Usability Engineering Costs	p. 123
Cost and Cost-Benefit Calculation Examples	p. 125
Usability Engineering Costs for Repeat Visits to a Web Site	p. 125
Usability Engineering Costs for Application 2	p. 126
Simple Cost-Benefit Analysis Techniques	p. 126
Payback Period	p. 127
Payback Period Example	p. 127
Sophisticated Selection Techniques	p. 128
Background	p. 128
Present Value of a Future Cash Flow Example	p. 130
Present Value of Cash Inflows Example	p. 130
Net Present Value	p. 131
Internal Rate of Return	p. 132
Further Interest-Based Selection Issues	p. 133
Summary and Recommendations	p. 137
A Look Ahead	p. 138
References	p. 139
Marketing Usability	p. 143
Introduction	p. 143
Some Notes on Terminology	p. 144
Survey of Usability Practitioners	p. 145
Marketing 101	p. 145
The Market	p. 146
Internal Factors	p. 147
External Factors	p. 147
Identifying the Market	p. 149
Product	p. 149
Pricing	p. 151
Pricing Models	p. 152
Promotion	p. 153
Promotional Tactics	p. 154
The Internet	p. 155
Internal Promotion	p. 156
Conclusions	p. 157
Acknowledgments	p. 158
References	p. 158
Survey Quotes	p. 159
Do You Have Any Advice for Someone Interested in Marketing Usability Services?	p. 159
What Do You Think Are the Biggest Challenges with Respect to Marketing Usability Services?	p. 161
What Do You Think Are the Biggest Opportunities with Respect to Marketing Usability Services?	p. 162
Valuing Usability for Startups	p. 165
Introduction	p. 165
Notes on Data About Startups	p. 166
Resistance to Usability In Startups	p. 166
Different Values During the Internet Bubble	p. 167
Time-to-Market and the "First-Mover" Advantage	p. 169
Focus on Valuation-What's a Startup Worth?	p. 170
Successful Startups Value the User Experience	p. 171
What Usability Offers Startups	p. 173
A Tool for Understanding and Evaluating Startups	p. 173
How Do Startups Determine Value?	p. 177
How Much Should Startups Invest in Usability?	p. 179
References	p. 181
Cost-Justifying Usability in Vendor Companies	p. 185
Introduction	p. 185
Understanding Your Company	p. 186
Customer-Focused Company	p. 187
Product-Focused Company	p. 188
Technology-Focused Company	p. 188
Executive-Focused Company	p. 188
Optimal Data-Driven Company	p. 189
Cost Justification in Vendor Companies	p. 189
Cost Justification for Web Applications	p. 191
Costs	p. 192
Initial Costs of Building Usability Laboratories	p. 193
Sustaining Costs	p. 196
Benefits	p. 200
Benefits to the Vendor Company: Increased Revenues	p. 201
Benefits to the Vendor Company and Customers: Decreased Costs	p. 204
Cost-Benefit Example	p. 208
Strategies for Maximizing Effectiveness	p. 210
Understand and Align with Business Goals and Values	p. 210
Perform Baseline and Ongoing Measurements	p. 210
Practice Proactive Public Relations	p. 211
Summary	p. 211
References	p. 212
Categories of Return on Investment and Their Practical Implications	p. 215
Introduction	p. 215
Categories of Return on Investment	p. 216
Internal Return on Investment	p. 217
Internal Social Return on Investment	p. 219
Improving Internal Social Return on Investment	p. 220
Making Connections	p. 221
Communicating with Product Teams	p. 224
Respecting the Rest of the Product Team	p. 225
Understanding How Others Are Judged	p. 227
Supporting Groups outside Mainstream Product Development	p. 228
Enlisting Quality Assurance Teams as Partners in User Interface Quality	p. 229
Reuse and Internal Return on Investment	p. 230
Methods for Raising Awareness of Reuse	p. 231
Within- and Between-Product Consistency Inspections	p. 232
User Interface Patterns as a Tool to Promote Reuse	p. 233
Group User Interface Inspections	p. 234
Graphic User Interface Rolls for Workflow Assessment and Comparison	p. 235
User-Centered Design Infrastructure and Return on Investment	p. 236
Templates and Common Documents	p. 239
External Return on Investment	p. 240
Historical, Predictive, and Simultaneous Measures	p. 241
Direct and Indirect Measures	p. 242
Measuring Improved User Experience	p. 243
First-Time Use	p. 244
The Learning Experience	p. 246
User Performance by Experienced Users	p. 247
Need for Customer Support and Service	p. 249
Customer Satisfaction and Attitudes	p. 251
Challenges to Measuring External Return on Investment	p. 253
User Experience Confounds Outside the User-Centered Design Team	p. 253
Addressing Confounds with Controlled Testing	p. 254
Confounds Unrelated to User Experience	p. 255
Return on Investment from Communicating Improved User Experience	p. 257
Summary: Why We Categorize Usability Return on Investment	p. 258
Acknowledgments	p. 259
References	p. 259
Usability Science: Tactical and Strategic Cost Justifications in Large Corporate Applications	p. 265
Introduction	p. 265
Benchmarking Awareness and Issues of Implementation	p. 266
A Problem of Expertise	p. 267
The Obvious Cost-Benefit Factors	p. 268
How Usability Science Can Be Utilized in a Large Corporate Setting	p. 269
Usability Science as a Tactical Asset	p. 270
Usability Science as a Strategic Asset	p. 272
The Actual Downstream Impact	p. 273
Current Trends in the Application of Usability Science	p. 274
The Rate of Dispersion of Formal Usability Science into Large Corporate Projects	p. 275
Summary of Usability Science and Innovation Diffusion	p. 277
Factors That Slow or Completely Inhibit Diffusion of Usability Science in Large Corporate Settings	p. 277
Where You Will Currently not Find Usability Science	p. 280
Moving to the Use of Usability Science as a Strategic Asset	p. 281
Case Studies: Tactical and Strategic	p. 282
Liability Claims	p. 283
Service and Maintenance Costs	p. 285
Customer Complaints	p. 287
Increased Complexity in New Products	p. 289
Market Competition	p. 291
Summary	p. 294
References	p. 295
The Return on Investment in Usability of Web Applications	p. 297
Introduction	p. 297
Return on Investment in Usability of Web Applications	p. 298
Lessons Learned from Analysis of Return on Investment in Usability on the Web	p. 300
The Attributes of Value	p. 302
Creating Value	p. 305
The Cost of Change	p. 305
Reducing the Risk of Failure	p. 306
Measuring Value	p. 307
How to Sell Return on Investment in Usability	p. 310
Summary and Future Directions	p. 313
References	p. 314
Web Sites of Interest	p. 315
Making the Business Case for International User Centered Design	p. 317
Introduction	p. 317
Do We Know Our Users?	p. 318
Our Focus in this Chapter	p. 320
Thinking Strategically about International UCD	p. 321
Making Strategic versus Tactical Business Cases	p. 321
The Strategic Importance of International Markets	p. 322
Linking Strategic Risk Management and International Design	p. 324
The Dream of "Simple" Answers	p. 326
Translation, Localization, and Internationalization	p. 327
Cultural Design Guidelines	p. 329
Custom UCD Research	p. 334
Identifying International User Factors and Contextual Variables Specifically Relevant to Your Domain	p. 334
Developing Your Own List of Contextual Variables	p. 340
Understanding Costs of International Research	p. 341
Bilingual Facilitation	p. 342
Simultaneous Translation	p. 342
Written Translation	p. 343
Adapting the Recruiting and Scheduling Strategy	p. 343
Air-Travel Expenses	p. 344
Per Diem Expenses	p. 344
Video and Computer Equipment	p. 345
What Is the Bottom Line?	p. 345
Are There Less Expensive Ways to Collect Data?	p. 347
International Discount Methods	p. 347
Hiring Local Consultants	p. 347
Remote Evaluation	p. 348
Maximizing the Value Of International UCD Research	p. 349
Target the Right Markets for Your Research	p. 349
Do Background Research	p. 349
Investigate Opportunities for Partnering	p. 350
Do Ethnographic and Exploratory Visits First	p. 350
Focus Stakeholders on Broader Benefits and Synergies	p. 350
Develop In-Country Resources	p. 351
Build Cumulative Learning	p. 351
Summary	p. 352
Special Thanks to	p. 352
References	p. 353
Cost Justification of Usability Engineering for International Web Sites	p. 359
Introduction	p. 359
Overview of Unique Aspects of Usability Engineering for International User Interfaces	p. 359
Sample Cost-Benefit Analyses of Usability Engineering on International Web Development Projects	p. 362
A Cross-Cultural E-Commerce Web Site	p. 363
A Cross-Cultural Product Information Web Site	p. 379
Summary and Conclusions	p. 382
References	p. 383
Return on Goodwill: Return on Investment for Accessibility	p. 385
Introduction	p. 385
What Does it Mean to Make a Web Site Accessible?	p. 386
Visual Impairments	p. 386
Movement Impairments	p. 387
The Role of Guidelines and Browser Compatibility	p. 387
The Benefits of Accessibility	p. 388
Enablement	p. 390
Accessibility Helps Everyone	p. 390
Public Good and Corporate Citizenship	p. 391
Social Justice	p. 391
Market Size	p. 391
Niche Markets	p. 391
Positive Market Perceptions	p. 392
Legal Requirements	p. 392
Cost Savings in Service Provision	p. 394
Cost Savings in Software Development and Maintenance	p. 394
When Is There No Benefit to Designing for Accessibility?	p. 394
Audience Diversity and Market Size	p. 395
Estimating Benefits	p. 396
Demographic Data on Individual Differences	p. 398
Uncertainties in Estimation	p. 399
The Costs of Accessible Design	p. 401
Retroactive Process to Make Your Site More Accessible	p. 402
Estimating Costs	p. 403
Acknowledgements	p. 413
References	p. 414
Ethnography for Software Development	p. 415
A Brief Description of Ethnography	p. 418
Distinction Between Site Visits and Ethnography	p. 420
Ethnography at Different Times in the Product Development Cycle	p. 421
Early in the Development Cycle: Near-Term Product Planning and Future Planning	p. 422
Middle of the Product Development Cycle: Feature-Specific and Product-Specific Questions	p. 423
Final Phases of the Product Development Cycle	p. 424
Both Marketing and Public Relations Are also Interested in Field Research	p. 425
Some Best Practices for Field Research	p. 425
Protocols for Visits	p. 426
Case Study 1: Windows XP Project: Guidelines for a Successful Ethnography-Anne Kirah	p. 428
Phase 0: The Planning Phase	p. 429
Phase 1: Recruitment of Participants	p. 432
Phase 2: Exploratory Studies	p. 435
Phase 3: Participatory Design Sessions	p. 436
Phase 4: Feature Specific Site Visits and Usability in the Field	p. 437
Phase 5: Beta Testing in the Field	p. 437
Case Study 2: Tablet PC Beta Testing in the Field-Evan Feldman	p. 439
Field Trial 1	p. 440
Field Trial 2	p. 441
Field Trial 3	p. 442
Field Trial 4	p. 442
Case Study 3: Msn: Forming the Pillars for a Release of Our Internet Services Through Exploratory Research-Anne Kirah	p. 443
Communication	p. 443
Safety and Security	p. 443
Managing Lives	p. 444
Personalization	p. 444
Development of Main Pillars	p. 444
Summary	p. 445
References	p. 445
Out of the Box: Approaches to Good Initial Interface Designs	p. 447
Getting It Right out of the Box	p. 448
Creative Design	p. 449
Preparation and Information	p. 450
Working Within the Rules	p. 451
Creativity as a Skill	p. 452
Design by Analogy	p. 453
Rational Design	p. 455
Design Based on Knowledge of Perceptual and Cognitive Principles	p. 456
Conclusion	p. 461
Acknowledgements	p. 462
References	p. 462
Keystroke Level Modeling as a Cost Justification Tool	p. 465
Introduction	p. 465
Case Study	p. 469
Model Tasks	p. 472
Run Existing Applications Productivity Test and Use Results to Refine Modeling Technique	p. 479
Compare Modeling Results to Goals	p. 482
Address Unmet Goals	p. 483
Run Proposed Application Productivity Test	p. 485
Conclusions	p. 487
References	p. 488
The Rapid Iterative Test and Evaluation Method: Better Products in Less Time	p. 489
Introduction	p. 489
Definition for Rite	p. 490
Business Case for Rite	p. 491
RITE Method Results in More Issues Fixed	p. 493
RITE Method Results in More Issues Found	p. 494
RITE Method Results in Better Team Dynamics	p. 495
RITE Method Degrades Gracefully	p. 496
The Pitfalls of Using the RITE Method	p. 497
Using Rite Effectively	p. 498
Case Studies	p. 501
Case Study 1: Microsoft Age of Empires II Tutorial	p. 503
Case Study 2: Oracle Interactive Voice Response E-Mail	p. 506
Case Study 3: Microsoft Digital Image Library	p. 509
Conclusions	p. 514
References	p. 516
Summative Usability Testing: Measurement and Sample Size	p. 519
Introduction	p. 519
Types of Usability Tests	p. 521
Summative Testing: Metrics	p. 523
Effectiveness, Dimensionless, and Embodied Metrics	p. 524
Efficiency and the Underlying Form of Data	p. 525
Satisfaction and the Reliability of Metrics	p. 529
Measuring Usability: In Summary	p. 534
Statistical Issues	p. 535
The Statistical Argument, Hypotheses, Rejection, and Power	p. 535
Different Kinds of Hypotheses	p. 538
Do We Need Hypotheses?	p. 541
How Do We Compute Sample Size and Effect Size?	p. 543
When Do We Compute Sample Size and Effect Size?	p. 545
Statistics and Reality	p. 547
Conclusions	p. 549
References	p. 551
Cost-Justifying Online Surveys	p. 555
Note to Reader	p. 555
Online Surveys and Their Value	p. 555
Cost and Return on Investment	p. 557
A Case Study for Online Usability Research: Staples Inc.	p. 560
Mechanics of Online Surveys	p. 561
Study Design	p. 562
Recruiting	p. 563
Study Administration	p. 566
Analysis	p. 569
Mixing Online with Other Methods	p. 570
Survey Vendors	p. 570
Requests for Proposals	p. 571
References	p. 572
Do It Yourself: Survey Creation Tools	p. 572
Conclusions	p. 572
Acknowledgments	p. 573
References	p. 573
Cost-Benefit Framework and Case Studies	p. 575
Potential Benefits of Usability	p. 575
Estimating Costs	p. 575
User-Centered Design Methods	p. 577
Costs of User-Centered Design	p. 580
Making the Cost-Benefit Case	p. 580
Case Studies	p. 583
Israel Aircraft Industries	p. 584
Inland Revenue/EDS	p. 594
Comparison	p. 598
Taking up the Methods	p. 599
Acknowledgements	p. 600
References	p. 600
At Sprint, Understanding the Language of Business Gives Usability a Positive Net Present Value	p. 601
Introduction	p. 601
It Is Time for a Mindset Upgrade	p. 601
Adopting the Business Decision-Making Mindset	p. 602
The User Is Not You	p. 602
The Business Decision-Making Mindset	p. 602
Ignored and Undervalued?	p. 603
Linking Financial Results to Usability	p. 605
The Price of Admission	p. 605
Creating a Valid Assessment	p. 606
Sprint's Program-Oriented Approach	p. 607
Identifying the Link Between Usability Data and Financial Results	p. 608
Conclusion	p. 609
Brave New World	p. 609
You Are Aligned	p. 610
References	p. 611
Cost-Justifying Usability: The View from the Other Side of the Table	p. 613
Introduction	p. 613
The Executives	p. 614
Joyce Durst, Infraworks Corporation	p. 614
Sara Garrison, Inovant	p. 614
Bill Mitchell, Microsoft	p. 614
Kim Rachmeler, Amazon.com	p. 614
A Quick Thanks	p. 615
Question #1: What Arguments to Pay for Usability Support Have You Said "Yes" To?	p. 615
Question #2: Which Arguments Have You Said "No" To?	p. 617
Question #3: What Would You Like to hear from Your Would-Be Usability Support (The In-House Team or a Consultant), to Help You Make Your Decision to "Buy" or Not?	p. 618
Three Final Considerations	p. 619
Starting Up	p. 619
The Attribution Problem	p. 619
The "Compleat Angler" (for Usability Funding)	p. 620
And So...	p. 620
Index	p. 623
About the Authors	p. 651
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Cost-Justifying Usability

An Update for the Internet Age

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Software Engineering

The Pragmatic Programmer 2nd edition

your journey to mastery, 20th Anniversary Edition

The Essence of Software Engineering

Semantics With Applications

Advanced Topics in Computer Science

Code

2nd Edition - The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

Fundamentals of Software Architecture

A Modern Engineering Approach

Design Patterns

Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software

Making Embedded Systems

2nd Edition - Design Patterns for Great Software

Hacking For Dummies

For Dummies (Computer/Tech)

Designing Data-Intensive Applications

Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems

Head First Design Patterns

Building Extensible and Maintainable Object-Oriented Software 2nd Edition

User Story Mapping

Discover the Whote Story, Build the Right Product

The Staff Engineer's Path

A Guide For Individual Contributors Navigating Growth and Change

Object-Oriented and Classical Software Engineering - Global Edition

8th Edition

Git : Pocket Guide

A Working Introduction

Clean Architecture

A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design

The Software Architect Elevator

Redefining the Architect's Role in the Digital Enterprise

Architecture Patterns with Python

Enabling Test-Driven Development, Domain-Driven Design, and Event-Driven Microservices

Swim Training Patterns

1st Edition - Plan your Training Sessions with the Power of Mathematics

Developing Graphics Frameworks with Java and OpenGL

The Engineering Leader

Strategies for Scaling Teams and Yourself

Learning Modern C++ for Finance

Foundations for Quantitative Programming

Learning Agile

Understanding Scrum, XP, Lean, and Kanban

Go Cookbook

Expert Solutions for Commonly Needed Go Tasks

Kubernetes - Up and Running

Dive into the Future of Infrastructure

This product is categorised by