While developers have always had to worry about the user experience, over the next year they will take it a step further by investing more in what is known as human-centered software development.
According to Progress Software The Human Side of Software Report 2024that surveyed 700 developers and IT managers, more than half of organizations will invest more in this type of development, which puts the focus on creating applications and features designed with their users in mind, especially considering that people of different mental and physical abilities will use them.
“Technology is the engine that drives our digital world, but too often the experiences we use lacking the finesse of apps built with people in mind. Clumsy, inaccessible interfaces disrupt what should be seamless interactions. Even more so, for people with disabilities,” Progress said in the report.
There are five pillars of human-centered software; It must be reliable, simple and intuitive to use, pleasant, inclusive and accessible to all, and have rich functionality.
Seventy-six percent of survey respondents consider human-centered development more important than it was just two years ago, due to a combination of business opportunities and cultural changes.
Progres considered only 12% of the surveyed organizations to be mature in this area, 47% were average, and 41% were immature. This is based on how many of the following five tenants the company tracks:
- Defining user needs and problems
- Ideation
- Compassion for users
- Testing
- Prototype production
“Despite data showing that most organizations are immature or average, 57% they stated that they believed they fully applied these principles of design thinking when creating framework. In other words, organizations believe their practices are mature despite this showing mature practices. This disconnect between reality and perception shows the need for greater self-awareness and rigorous internal benchmarking for accurate reflection the design maturity of a human-centered organization,” wrote Progress.
Almost all respondents (97%) said they experienced challenges adopting human-centered design principles. The main challenges included meeting customer requirements, complexity or lack of agility, difficulty in measuring results, lack of investment in tools, and lack of collaboration between teams during software development.
Progress’ recommendations for successfully implementing human-centered design are honing existing talent and greater diversity in hiring, conducting self-assessments to determine reasonable goals, and implementing cohesive design principles and tools.
“Time is running out for organizations to create an inclusive and sustainable people-centred society digital world. Procrastination will only make the road harder. Businesses don’t want right investments in accessible user experiences will soon be replaced by those that do,” Progress concluded.