IBM User Engineering

User Engineering (UE) is a significant evolutionary advancement in the process of developing offerings that satisfy and delight users, as well as the stakeholders who invest in bringing them to market.

It requires an understanding of value propositions—the values that users seek, how an offering will provide those values, and the values sought by the business providing it. The objective is a balanced design that provides value for the business, stakeholders, and users. UE is based on delivering this measurable value to each of them.

This section of the site provides a comprehensive reference source on the User Engineering process pioneered by IBM. It builds on the well-established User-Centered Design (UCD) process with the overall objective of delivering maximum value to the Customer/User and Supplier.

Introduction
User Engineering is about satisfying users with all aspects of an offering .

Principles
User Engineering is based on principles that govern its structure and practice.

Role by phase
The linkages between roles , phases , activities , work products and measures.

Phases
The design process has discrete phases where specific activities are performed.

Roles
A set of roles , with specific skills, must be staffed to perform User Engineering .

Activities
Activities are a set of actions performed by one or more roles , resulting in work products .

Work products
Roles produce work products during each phase of the process.

Methods
Methods provide proven techniques to help perform activities .

Measures
Measures are taken at each phase to ensure project goals are achieved.

Glossary
List of special words or phrases (terms) used throughout User Engineering .

User-Centered Design
Some of the core elements of User Engineering are direct extensions of the well-established User-Centered Design process.