The impact of end-user participation in IT projects on product usability

Abstract

Many companies implementing new IT projects show that they face numerous problems with ensuring good usability of the final product. Strong market competition that they experience often results in necessity of undertaking difficult decisions towards cost optimization. This often forces cuts in usability expertise and giving up end-user participation in the project. However, it may also result in serious consequences in final quality of the product being developed. The paper discusses the outcomes of a study conducted among Polish companies. The core analysis includes conclusions from study done with fifteen IT project managers on end-user participation and their impact on the final product usability.