Usability inspections can be employed in early phases of the software development process. They improve usability through artifacts that are built during the develop ment of the software. These artifacts will influence the usabil ity of the developed software. Usability inspection techniques have been proposed and considered as an effective alternative for addressing usability issues in early phases. Howeve r, these techniques are often avoided by software engineers due to their lack of experience and knowledge in the field. Ther efore, there is an opportunity to investigate how industry practiti oners have employed an early usability inspection technique in practice. This paper describes an observational study in the indus try aimed at eliciting the process used by software engineers wh en applying an early usability inspection technique. We analyzed t he qualitative data, discussing their impact in the improvement of the technique. The results indicated which steps the so ftware engineers adopted in the technique's application.
['Natasha M. Costa Valentim', 'Tayana Conte', 'Bernardo José da Silva Estácio', 'Rafael Prikladnicki']
How do software engineers apply an early usability inspection technique? A qualitative study