A Plea for a Poor Man's HCI Component in Software Engineering and Computer Science Curricula; After all: The Human-Computer Interface is the System

Most software development approaches and curricular guidelines seem to ignore the fact that in many software systems the user interface is a decisive factor for product quality. As a result, it is often designed rather independently of the system’s functionality. Chances are then that it does not get the attention it deserves. In the approach to software development we sketch, the design of the user interface and the design of the functionality go hand in hand. We give a number of examples of user interface problems, and illustrate how these can be caught early if a more integrated approach is taken. We conclude with an outline of a minimal course on human-computer interaction that we feel should be part of everyone’s software engineering or computer science curriculum.