User interface and quality planning department (lab review)
Authors: Bruce H. Fetz, Mary Carol Day
Venue: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems: Empowering people (1990)

The primary mission of the User Interface and Quality Planning Department is to design user interfaces for AT T network-based products and services. Working with other members of the Research and Development community, we strive to develop high quality user interfaces. We bring special expertise in the design of graphical user interfaces for customer network management, in the design of interfaces for voice-based network services, and in the use of state-of-the-art technology for documentation and training. Our work covers products and services for users both outside of AT T and inside AT T (e.g., attendants and technicians). The User Interface and Quality Planning Department also plays a leadership role in maintaining a company-wide community of behavioral scientists. The department consists of four user interface groups and one quality planning group. With quality planning and user interface design in the same department, we can effectively highlight the importance of the user interface to the user's perception of quality. The user interface groups are directly funded by AT T business units for user interface design work on specific products and services. Bruce Fetz is the Department Head; there are four user interface supervisors and about 23 Members of Technical Staff (MTS). The supervisors and MTS have doctorates in some area of experimental psychology; many also have a strong background in computer science. In addition, there are several laboratory support people, and we bring in software developers as they are needed on specific projects. Our user interface laboratory has development, testing, and presentation rooms, with flexible configuration and communication capabilities. Our equipment includes a high-capacity network of Sun workstations, and state-of-the-art audio/video production and editing equipment. Our philosophy regarding human factors work in service and product development has two major themes. First, human factors specialists should work as full team members with the product planners, systems engineers and developers responsible for a service or product. Second, human factors specialists should be involved as team members throughout the entire product realization process &mdash; from initial concept, through design and development, to customer evaluation after the product or service has been introduced. Rapid prototyping (of both voice-based user interfaces and graphical user interfaces) is central to our design process. Prototypes allow us to try out design concepts, to obtain feedback from users at every stage of the design process, to communicate our ideas more effectively, and to conduct laboratory evaluations. At the end of the design process, prototypes often serve as the &ldquo;user interface requirements&rdquo; for a product. In addition to product-specific efforts, we also engage in exploratory design and development using new user interface technologies. Also, department members contribute to the creation and evaluation of user interface standards that support the consistency of user interfaces across different products and services.