Ensuring compatibility in HCI-SE integration

The article outlines the approach being taken by a consortium of four industrial partners to evaluate a method for usability engineering-MUSE. This project is being conducted under the auspices of the CEC´s ESSI Framework (European System Software Initiative), a part of the larger ESPRIT initiative. MUSE defines a three phase approach to UI design, and a supporting notation which enables analyses of user tasks and importantly, target systems to be described in a form which is understood by designers, implementers and managers alike. The objective of the project is to apply MUSE and evaluate its ability to support user interface design in conjunction with different software engineering methods. This cost benefit evaluation will be achieved by the use of cross project metrics applicable to the method rather than the target software being developed