Glossary » Business and Marketing
Gantt chart
a diagram used in project management, where the x axis is time and the y axis shows tasks to be performed to complete the project. Each task is displayed as a horizontal bar spanning the time period during which it…
Read more »gap analysis
the analysis of the difference between a technology’s capabilities and the user’s needs. This is usually informed by a user needs analysis (usually the result of user observation and requirements analysis) and is used to produce usability objectives and a…
Read more »interstitial advertising
(web) advertising that interrupts the flow of interaction on a website; in particular, advertising that appears at the destination of a link that must be viewed before some desired content is available.
Read more »inverted pyramid process
An iterative process oriented around exploring a wide variety of alternatives. Rather than build a single prototype and testing, in the inverted pyramid process, you build lots of low-cost alternatives, such as thumbnails, evaluate them, then refine to the next…
Read more »ISO 9000
a set of international standards for quality management. The standards help ensure that an organization produces quality products and services and runs the organization well. The main themes are to apply a systematic process, measure performance and make decisions based…
Read more »iterative design
the idea that design should be done in repeated cycles where, in each cycle, the design is elaborated, refined, and tested, and the results of testing at each cycle feed into the design focus of the next cycle.
This is…
Read more »merchantability
the degree to which a product is fit for its intended purpose, the degree to which it works correctly and is suitable for someone to purchase and use without serious risk. The term is directly about whether it is appropriate…
Read more »mission creep
or scope creep; the tendency for a project to accumulate more and more required project goals as development proceeds, such as additional software features or sections of a website. Mission creep typically delays a project, runs it over budget, and…
Read more »mission-critical system
any system whose reliable performance is crucial to the successful performance of the organization in which it is used, e.g. the phone system of a telemarketing organization would be considered mission-critical whereas an occasionally-used word processor might not be critical.…
Read more »mythical man-month
a man-month is a way of measuring work output for production which is reasonably helpful in certain limited areas of industries like manufacturing. The basic idea is that if you want to produce twice as many sprockets, then you can…
Read more »payoff page
(web) the target page that a user arrives at after clicking on a banner ad or candy box. The payoff page should satisfy the user’s purpose in following the link while additionally informing the user, persuading the user of a…
Read more »persuasive computing
or “captology”; the use of computing technology to change or influence attitudes or behaviors. Examples include advertising, public service messages, and demo and attract-mode screens used for point-of-sale displays and arcade games.
Many important ethical issues need to be considered…
Read more »PERT chart
(Program Evaluation and Review Technique) a type of flowchart used in project management, where each task is represented by a node and connected to other tasks with arrows to indicate task dependencies. Each node may be labeled with necessary resources…
Read more »pervasive usability
a principle of design that advocates the application of usability methods in every stage of the design process. Some of the primary stages of design, and some example usability techniques, are:
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requirements gathering: field studies, interviews, focus groups
requirements
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Read more »procurement decisionmaker
the person responsible for selecting software to be used in an organization, who will need to have an evaluation of the usability of the software in order to understand its impact on the productivity of the organization.
Read more »productivity paradox
why is it that, despite adopting cool new technology, many businesses do not achieve higher productivity? That’s the productivity paradox. The systems were intended to improve productivity, but they didn’t. Why not? In general, it stems from a failure to…
Read more »ROI
return on investment. A measure of the value of making an investment. Spending money on information systems development, and on usability in particular, means providing a rationale for how the project will be managed to achieve maximum return, i.e. providing…
Read more »RSVP
a mnemonic for requirements analysis – structural design – visual design – production, the main steps in a design process. In the spirit of iterative design, each stage would have an evaluation component to ensure that the design was proceeding…
Read more »schedule chart
a diagram used in project management, planning, and scheduling. The schedule chart shows the different resources and activities involved in a project and time dependencies between them. With this diagram, a critical path can be found that indicates the shortest…
Read more »screen pop
a feature in telephone-based customer service applications that brings up a customer record automatically on the screen of the customer service representative when they receive a call.
Read more »shopping cart
a common metaphor used in web-based ordering systems. Users search for products, then add them to an abstract shopping cart. The entire list of items in the shopping cart is listed when they go to an order page to finalize…
Read more »spiral model
a classic approach to project management. The spiral model is an iterative approach that begins by developing basic requirements, building small simple prototypes, evaluating those prototypes, and then expanding into refined requirements and consecutively larger prototypes, until a complete deliverable…
Read more »stakeholder
a person who is concerned with the outcome of a user interface design because of some effect it has on them, including users, clients, managers, software developers, designers, marketers, distributors, store-owners, and almost everyone involved with a product. Ideally, every…
Read more »stickiness
the quality of a website that it retains visitors, by keeping them at the website and by getting them to return regularly.
Read more »technological determinism
the concept that technology is the primary component of business success. Thus, buy more technology. Obviously, it’s not always true, and the fit of the technology to the organization can weigh enormously on the issue.
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