Software Usability in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Germany: An Empirical Study

Scheiber, Florian; Wruk, Dominika; Oberg, Achim; Britsch, Johannes; Woywode, Michael; Maedche, Alexander; Kahrau, Felix; Meth, Hendrik; Wallach, Dieter; Plach, Marcus

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-31371-4_3

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Today, German software SMEs face the growing pressure of end-user expectations in terms of the growing demand for the consumerization of their products (Degarmo et al 2011;Scheiber et al 2012). It seems necessary that firms react to this trend or even shape it proactively (e.g.…”

Section: The Influence Of Management Support On Usability Readinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the results of the study indicate that many German software SMEs are still in strategic straightjackets. They are mainly focused on the design and inclusion of new functions into their products (Scheiber et al 2012) instead of the overall value creation for the end-user and subsequently customer organization. This is a potential impediment to future growth as more and more customer organizations in Germany seem to focus on usability (Scheiber et al 2012).…”

Section: The Influence Of Management Support On Usability Readinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This demand for usability should not only be considered a threat, but as an opportunity to seek competitive advantage (Gemser et al2006). Especially, software firms in the US have been able to develop software products with superior usability and leverage their usability knowhow for achieving such advantages (Scheiber et al 2012). As a result, the German federal ministry for economics and technology initiated the execution of a comprehensive empirical study in 2011 (UIG study) to explore the status quo of usability methods in German SMEs .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Usability Readiness of German Software SMEs – Three Segments and their Characteristics

Werder¹,

Haake²,

Mädche³

2014

Mensch Und Computer 2014 - Tagungsband

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

German small-and-medium sized software companies are facing an increasing pressure by their users with regards to usability expectations. While some software companies still heavily emphasize functional aspects of their products, others have identified the potential of usability to differentiate themselves. The study has an exploratory nature and employs cluster analysis to investigate responses of German SME software companies with a specific focus on usability. We identify three segments of companies, i.e. Usability Sleeper, Usability Executers and Usability Performers. While the first perform worst, the Usability Executers show high usability readiness with regard to software development (SD) processes. Usability Performers further separate themselves through higher employees' expertise. Subsequent analysis of these sub-segments reveals that business sector and management support are key differentiators amongst them. For practitioners the results presented in this paper describe the characteristics of SME software companies in Germany with mature usability.

show abstract

Section: The Influence Of Management Support On Usability Readinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Influence Of Management Support On Usability Readinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Usability Readiness of German Software SMEs – Three Segments and their Characteristics

Werder¹,

Haake²,

Mädche³

2014

Mensch Und Computer 2014 - Tagungsband

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…usability defined as the extent to which a software can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals effectively, efficiently, and satisfactorily in a specified use context [15]. While usability is not a central topic in SE, in which it is considered one of many non-functional requirements and quality attributes [16], it has become crucial for economic success in highly competitive markets and can be used to set the product apart from that of the competition [17][18][19]. User-centered design (UCD) ensures that the goals and needs of the system's end-users is the focus of the product's development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring principles of user-centered agile software development: A literature review

Brhel

Meth

Maedche

et al. 2015

Information and Software Technology

Self Cite

240

178

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Several studies have investigated the perception of knowledge about HCI and/or the use of HCI approaches in practice. We found 12 studies in literature using an ad hoc technique . These studies were not developed in the context of software development with SPCM model implementations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

HCI in practice: An empirical study with software process capability maturity model consultants in Brazil

Gonçalves

Oliveira

Kolski

2018

J Software Evolu Process

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human‐computer interaction (HCI) and software engineering (SE) are undoubtedly important domains for the development of interactive systems. The quality of an interactive system is usually considered dependent on the user interface design and evaluation, which implies the use of HCI and SE approaches on the adequate software process. With the wide use of software process capability maturity (SPCM) models in the industry and their role of proposing best practices for software development and maintenance, some questions come up: To what extent are HCI approaches known and used to develop interactive systems? What is their level of use compared to SE approaches? To answer these questions, we conducted an empirical study in the Brazilian industry. Thirty‐six official consultants for the 2 SPCM models used in Brazil (CMMI‐DEV and MR‐MPS‐SW) provided us with their perception of knowledge and use concerning a set of predefined categories of approaches for HCI and SE that support the engineering practices of those SPCM models. By using a paired t test, we concluded that consultants of those models do not know and do not use HCI approaches as well as they know and use SE approaches. Moreover, they know little about HCI approaches, which may justify their poor use.

show abstract

Software Usability in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Germany: An Empirical Study

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

Usability Readiness of German Software SMEs – Three Segments and their Characteristics

Usability Readiness of German Software SMEs – Three Segments and their Characteristics

Exploring principles of user-centered agile software development: A literature review

HCI in practice: An empirical study with software process capability maturity model consultants in Brazil

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About