Good products need more than just programming

As an integral part of development processes, usability engineering methods ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the software, user satisfaction and last but not least the success of the project.

In concrete terms, good usability is only possible through the involvement of real users and the early identification of actual usage requirements. In this way, the amount of work – and costs – that arise later on can be reduced. No unnecessary development costs are invested in the implementation of functions that ultimately no one uses.

For us, usability engineering is a creative process with an interdisciplinary approach. Technology focus and deadlocked structures are broken and not the first but the best variant is being implemented.

Good usability is therefore essential, as it increases sales, boosts productivity and ensures better customer loyalty. On the other hand, expensive maintenance and support costs as well as confusion and frustration among users can be reduced.

No! – However, an agile approach has proven itself in many cases. We at itemis also use an agile approach in the development of our products. But: Agility is not a panacea! And agility is not easy!

We attach great importance that the applied procedure fits the task as well as the company and the development team.

Agility makes it possible to adapt our software products to rapidly changing conditions and challenges in an uncertain market, as we have all experienced with Covid-19. But not all products are affected by such uncertainty.

To be able to change direction at such a speed, agility relies on decentralized, self-reliant product teams, development methods and a degree of automation that makes this speed possible. These skills must first be learned.

Therefore, it is essential for us to get to know your situation at the beginning of a consultation before we advise you to proceed.

MVP is an abbreviation for Minimum Viable Product.

An MVP is already a viable product – but one that only provides a basic set of functionality. However, it is usable and (hopefully) provides its users with added value. This is exactly what is being tested on the market very quickly.

An MVP is developed and used to gain clarity about the requirements of potential users and the market opportunities of a product idea. Is my product idea really interesting? Does the market really need such an innovation? Instead of the time-consuming and cost-intensive development of a sophisticated product, MVP development serves to verify a concept.

The prerequisite for the development of an MVP and at the same time the biggest challenge is to determine the core functionality that is really needed for the first test on the market. A user-centered approach is essential for this.