A Case Study of User-Cent red Design in Four Swiss RUP Projects

We analysed four Rational Unified Pro cess (RUP) pro jects in Sw itzerland that identified t hemselves as follow ing a user- cent re dapproach . Gro unded theor y ser ved for a nalysis of 1 2 inter v i ews w ith s oftware de velop ers, project m anagers, and U I s p e cialists.For each professional g roup we analysed their wor k context, motivations, wor k pr actices, and s t r ateg ies used to overcome t heobstacles to user- cent re d desig n. Results s how t hat end users did not par ticipate in the pro jects. Instead of wor king directly w ithend u sers, p ar ticipants u sed d ata f rom m ar ke ting research or consulte d colleagues f rom o ther depar t ments. Protot y p es played animpor tant role. We suggest the follow ing remedies: (1) de veloping methods for easy integ r ation of existing company knowledgeabout pro ducts w ith u sabilit y features, ( 2) professionalising UI desig n by educating project s takeholders i n s tandard UI desig n , ( 3)creating an approved pool of company’s p ersonas for UI specialists’ wor k, and (4) e ducating customers on t heir r i g h t to get gooduser inter face s.