What comes after usability? - 4 March 2007

The software development process usually drives what users get. In the beginning, there was the Waterfall model based on a world where everything is known in advance and specs don’t change (i.e. a figment). Users got something functional, just not what they wanted or needed by the time the software shipped. Then came various spiral flavors: Iterative, Agile, XP. Unlike waterfalls (which run in one direction and don’t back up), spirals can produce software much more likely to match what users want. Spirals support usability, and usability drives the need for spiral development. But what comes after usability? And will new development approaches emerge to support it?