26.5. Usability (How Useful Is it?)
The ultimate objective of human factors engineering in product design is to develop a usable product. From "ISO 13407-Human Centered Design Processes for Interactive Systems," the definition of usability is the "extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use." Per ISO 13407, the goals of usability are:
Effectiveness: The accuracy and completeness with which users achieve specified goals
Efficiency: The resources expended in relation to the accuracy and completeness with which users achieve goals
Satisfaction: The comfort and acceptability of use
Learnability: The ability to use the system help or manuals to perform the task
Intuitiveness: The ability to perform the tasks with limited explanation
Helpfulness/supportiveness: The ability to overcome problems that arise
Controllability: The perceived feeling of being in control/tracking performance
Avoiding excessive mental load: The perceived mental effort or physical indicators (i.e., auditory, visual, or verbal)
Avoiding excessive physical load: Physical measures such as heart rate, respiration, and weight
Safety: The ability to operate the system safely
26.5.1. How Does a Product Achieve Usability?
Product usability is optimized when the user is the central focus of the product development process. That is not to say all other performance and budgetary requirements are minimized, but rather ...
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