Förderung eines benutzerzentrierten Software-Entwicklungsprozesses in Unternehmen am Beispiel von UBS Schweiz

Abstract

Why are we still confronted with such a poor usability in many software products? What lets all those big companies ignore the obvious opportunity to increase their efficiency, effectiveness, and employee satisfac-tion? This master thesis demonstrates that we have all required means in both, theory and practice, to develop usable software. Hence, the problem is not the missing solution but the missing awareness of the solution, and, even worse, the missing recognition of the problem itself.Considering user-centredness as innovation and the process to its implementation as organisational learning delivers useful indications to further strategic efforts on the way to user-centred development processes.Following the ideas of several widely distributed software engineering and usability engineering standards this thesis presents a maturity model of an ideal user-centred organisation. The model distinguishes seven dimensions: (1) the development process, (2) methods and tools, (3) the organisational structure, (4) employees qualification, (5) the education system and knowledge management, (6) management activities and culture, and (7) resources; three maturity levels lead the way to real user-centredness.The applicability of the maturity model is demonstrated in a case study about UBS Switzerland. The case study shows the benefit of using a model to support analysis and to direct strategic considerations with regard to user-centredness. Finally, the latest technological approaches to usability engineering and organisational learning are discussed.