5.1 Introduction

Justifying why what they do matters is a common activity for usability practitioners. Other chapters in this book can assist in developing such rationale; however, this chapter does not. Starting with the premise that usability matters, this chapter provides some thoughts on how to convince others not only that it does but also that they should exchange something of value (often money) to get it. Here, usability practitioners learn how to market what they do.

This marketing need is common for usability engineers working across a range of organizational contexts. "Big name" usability consultancies with large staffs seek to attract high-end clients through sophisticated marketing strategies based on the reputation of their principals. Lone usability contractors may market their services by word-of-mouth based on their expertise in the usability issues of a particular domain. Internal usability groups in corporations may adopt a strategy of nurturing close relationships with the developers with whom they work daily, while gaining strategic support from top management. In each of these situations, the usability professional must put together a plan for convincing one or more people of the benefit of usability engineering. Questions that should be answered in each of these situations include the following:

• Who is my customer?

• Who are the major stakeholders?

• What problem am I trying to solve for the customer?

• What is my proposed solution?

• How will this solution benefit the customer? How will it benefit other stakeholders? How will it benefit...