Dynamic Usability: Designing Usefulness Into Systems for Complex Tasks
2014
Complex tasks and problem solving are different in kind not just degree from well-structured tasks. They require unique designs for software support. Stressing the primacy of usefulness in designs for complex work, I propose a framework — Bounded Interactivity for Complex Inquiry (BICI) — to guide usability specialists, information designers, and other members of software teams in building usefulness into programs for complex problem solving. BICI emphasizes the interaction between contextual conditions, constraints, and actions in order to guide software teams in creating useful designs centered on the effects of these interactions. I exemplify this conceptual framework by applying it to a sample design situation.