Prototyping for usability: the benefits of peer group review

Ease of use has been identified as the major requirement for today´s computer users. However, traditional methods of system design often result in systems that are hard to use and don´t help users achieve specific business objectives. Prototyping and iteration can lead to better design but showing users prototypes does not, of itself, guarantee a usable product. The literature on usability engineering usually recommends usability testing and independent HCI (human computer interaction) review. But in addition to these valuable methods, `show and tell´ sessions, sometimes known as `peer group review´ can reveal many usability problems before they are ever seen by users. The article looks at how we use peer group review within IT at Glaxo R&D (GRD) and compares the benefits of doing so with other aspects of usability engineering. At GRD we have found peer group review of prototypes helps in the following ways: to design better interfaces, to achieve a `common look and feel´ for our systems, and generally to improve quality. But it is only one method of achieving this. In terms of overall usability, we use a variety of evaluation activities: user review, revisiting users´ tasks and their system requirements, HCI review and usability testing