Usability is as much a part of the software process and QA, people. Nowhere is this more clear to me than in VUI. I’ve worked with many companies, large and small, and even when Usability has a bullet in the outline of a project from the template the company gives out as the standard starting place, it still gets left out. Exactly what are we going to do when we construct and launch an entire system without user input? <toilet> Usability on VUI can be an unobtrusive, iterative process, starting very early in a project with casual WoZ and “ending” with lab studies on a “finished” project. The quotes in the last sentence are to note the fact that VUI is a dynamic medium, needing almost constant change and monitoring, much like Web work, so there is no real “end” or “finish” when done correctly. Usability turns into Tuning on a more established system, but is just as necessary. A holistic look at the application drift that often comes over time to a VUI near you, is necessary to keep your users happy. Don’t be satisfied with monopoly in any of its forms either. Just because your user base has numbers because it is forced to use your system for the lack of other avenues to your company or competing companies, doesn’t mean your system is working.
Simonie
