Viewpoints to Introducing the Human-Centered Design (HCD) Process to the Development Process

The objective of this research is to clarify the relationship between the practice of human-centered design (HCD) and the obstacles to applying this approach. Our study is based on research into several factors in the HCD process as applied to the development of hardware devices with embedded software, such as office equipment, home electronics, medical devices and information equipment. From the results of our investigation of 13 companies, we identified several obstacles to applying HCD methods to the development process. Also discussed are the nature of these obstacles, and methods to make better use of the HCD process to avoid such obstacles in future. Previous studies of the HCD process have presented new perspectives by performing various analyses of the benefits of using HCD methods. However, previous studies have not discussed proposals to avoid obstacles, or how to apply the HCD process to company workflows. Therefore, we collected 79 “good cases” and 53 “bad cases” through interviews and questionnaires. We then analyzed those cases, and summarized 4 viewpoints on introducing the HCD process to companies, and 12 approaches for solving these problems. Viewpoints: 1) Establish methods appropriate to each company. 2) Indicate the effects. 3) Share goals. 4) Participate in upstream processes.Approaches: 1) Use easy words. 2) Match HCD methods to the development process. 3) Create simple methods. 4) Compare with other companies. 5) Compare with in-house practices. 6) Share results with users. 7) Publish results as a reference. 8) Create industry standards. 9) Recognize a good point that already exists. 10) Share goals with the relevant departments. 11) Participate in requirement definition process. 12) Create valuable features through observation.