Introducing Usability Engineering into the Cmm Model: An Empirical Approach

Abstract

Usability practitioners advocate implementation of user-centered design methodologies in order to achieve highly usable software products. However, such an approach can not be independent of the organization's established software development process. This paper describes how usability engineering is currently being incorporated into the iNautix's software development process. The iNautix process is based on the Capability Maturity Model developed by the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. The model defines 5 levels of software development process maturity: the higher the maturity level, the higher the process capability of the organization. A 7-phase iNautix Life Cycle was developed based on the CMM framework. Recently, iNautix was assessed as a CMM level 2 organization. Currently, usability engineering processes have been included in 3 of the 7 phases: Requirements Management; Project Planning, Tracking and Oversight; and Product Development. New usability processes that the authors are defining as the organization matures toward CMM level 3 are also presented in the paper.