Contextual Method for the Redesign of Existing Software Products

Abstract

This article is concerned with the problem of improving software products and investigates how to base that process on solid empirical foundations. Our key contribution is a contextual method that provides a means of identifying new features to support discovered and currently unsupported ways of working and a means of evaluating the usefulness of proposed features. Standard methods of discovery and evaluation, such as interviews and usability testing, gather some of the necessary data but fall short of covering important aspects. The shortcomings of these approaches are overcome by applying an integrated and iterative method for collecting and interpreting data about product usage in context. This article demonstrates its effectiveness when applied to the discovery and evaluation of new features for standard Web clients.

Notes

¹The Vividence Clickstreams product is now part of the Keynote product range (Keynote Systems, 2006).

²The NetRaker product is now part of the Keynote product range (Keynote Systems, 2006).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kerry Rodden

Kerry Rodden is now at Google, Inc., in Mountain View, CA.