From technology assessment through product deployment: human factors delivers value

With the increasing diversity and sophistication of end users, it is becoming more critical to ensure that products and services are easy to use. Data supported by product success stories show that early attention to usability results in significant cost savings and gives a product a competitive advantage. Our strategy in human factors has been to focus on early user involvement, empirical measurement and iterative design whenever possible. While we are working toward incorporating user-centered design into the product development process, the reality is that human factors engineering is not always included early enough. Through flexible application of user-centered design techniques, however, we have found that human factors value can be considerable throughout the product development cycle. This article describes examples of how human factors adds value at different phases of the product development life cycle