Usability Evaluation and Interactive Systems Maintenance

Within organizations interactive systems are subject to pressures for change that are predominantly evolutionary in nature. The evolution of interactive systems is generally termed maintenance. Traditionally maintenance soaks up large portions of interactive systems budgets. Despite the many resources given over to maintenance there is little evidence that any consideration of usability issues takes place in this development stage. This paper is concerned with ramifications of applying four contemporary usability evaluation methods in scenarios where interactive systems are evolving. The four specific methods we examine are: Heuristic Evaluation; the Cognitive Walkthrough; Interacting Cognitive Subsystems; and Cooperative Evaluation.