It can be part of the development process of any type of electronic information application. Although each development project is different, the approaches, methods, techniques and activities applied to achieve usability do not vary much. User-centred design emphazises on early and continuous involvement of users in the design process. It is not reasonable to expect users to come up with design ideas from scratch. However, users are very good at reacting to designs and prototypes.
Participatory design is particularly effective when designing customized software in-house.
User validation describes the gathering of quality of use information about an application which is used within a specified context of use. The user validation process describes a set of ordered activities that contribute to a defined objective of a validation project. A user validation process takes place over time and has precise objectives regarding the results to be achieved. A User Validation Process Model describes the structure and the elements of that validation process in terms of stages and steps, dependencies and data. Validation method is a repeatable, systematic procedure to produce validation results.