User Participation in Object-Oriented Contexts - From Methodological and Practical Perspectives

Abstract: In this study, user participation is suggested as a means, a process and role-playing between system users and developers in systems development. User participation in object-oriented contexts is observed from methodological and practical perspectives as a combined field of study. From the methodological perspective, three object-oriented methods are assessed according to NIMSAD, a method evaluation framework. The method evaluation indicates that user participation is weak in the three object-oriented methods. From the practical perspective, object-oriented systems practice is investigated in six industrial organizations in Sweden, from which two forms of user participation are found and provided. They reveal that user participation could be explored from the understanding of objects and be studied from the method application. It is argued that system users can play a role as method users in the whole development process. Such an argument is only found from the systems practice far.