Abstract

User Experience Engineering (UxE) incorporates subject areas like usability, HCI, interaction experience, interaction design, "human factors", ergonomics", cognitive psychology", behavioral psychology and psychometrics", systems engineering", [and] "computer science," (Hartson, 1998). It has been suggested that UxE will be the main success factor in organizations as we enter the "loyalty decade" of software development, where the repeat usage of a product by a single customer will be the metric of product success (Alghamdi, 2010; Law & van Schaik, 2010, p. 313; Nielsen, 2008; Van Schaik & Ling, 2011). What is relatively unknown in the current academic literature is whether existing UxE methodologies are effective or not when placed in a longitudinal research context (Law & van Schaik, 2010). There is room for the exploration of the effects of long-term UxE practices in a real-world case study scenario. The problem, addressed in this study, is that a lack of the application of UxE-related processes and practices with an industrial partner had resulted in customer dissatisfaction and a loss of market share. A three-year case study was performed during which 10 UxE-related metrics were gathered and analyzed to measure the improvements in the design of the customer's experience that long-term UxE practices could bring to a small corporate enterprise. The changes that occurred from the corporate and customer's point of view were analyzed as the customer's experience evolved throughout this long-term UxE study. Finally, an analysis of the problems and issues that arose in the implementation of UxE principles during the application of long-term UxE processes was performed. First-hand training between the research team and company employees proved essential to the success of this project. Although a long-term UxE process was difficult to implement within the existing development practices of the industrial partner, a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction and customer engagement with the company system was found. UxE processes led to increased sales rates and decreased development costs in the long-term. All 10 metrics gathered throughout this study showed measurable improvements after long-term UxE processes and practices were adopted by the industrial partner.

Degree

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Technology

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