Inside information 2 - usability and user research: eight years of research and method development cooperation

This report is a follow up to the Inside Information – Usability and User Research at UIQ Technology report that was made available in October 2006. The initial report was written from an industrial point of view aimed to market UIQ Technology through the demonstration of the UIQ usability and user research philosophy. UIQ Technology Usability Metrics (UTUM) was important result here. UTUM was considered an extremely cost-effective method for keeping in focus what is important for users and handset makers. It was a tool for guiding development decisions as well as for validating the worthiness of design concepts. The two parts in UTUM was perceived by the company as an innovation in their software development practice. The first part was the relationship to users and attitude to their participation in the design process. The second part was how the company immediately and directly incorporated this usability understanding into the software development process. UTUM, together with other usability methods and results presented in this report, have been produced in an action research manner. Due to the closure of the company, the main author of the 2006 report, and the same researchers who also supported the writing of the initial report, decided to produce a follow-up and closure version of the initial report; as a way to summarize the results from the academic and industrial cooperation. In this updated version, eight years of joint action research and cooperative method development surrounding usability and user research is concluded.