User-centered design approach applied to redesign an in-use software

Abstract

Approaching any development phase and product, with the idea of user's needs and requirements first, means leading a whole project with it as a priority. In order to reach this situation, is good if a user-centered process is followed and, is part of the development team mindset. This thesis explores the refactoring of a proprietary tool at King Digital Entertainment, used for an analytic purpose. The process followed for the refactoring process is the User Centered Design process. The challenges in following this process, lie on the knowledge of the UCD process of the teams responsible for the development and maintenance of such tools; the cost, the time and, the resources to adopt a user-centered design process; and then the focus on usability rather than perceived functionalities, which usually are higher, when compared to multiple competing business requests. The work presents the approach taken in making the team adapts its way of working towards this process, some of the challenges faced, and the results observed at the end of the process.