This process places the user in a central position for both determining system requirements and ensuring they are met.

The benefits of these systems include not only improvements in user efficiency, but also others, such as reduced training costs, reduced user errors, reduced maintenance costs, and increased customer satisfaction. However, the chief requirements in these kinds of systems become to understand the users' information needs. As we argued earlier, the systems analysts cannot determine information needs scientifically, rather the system analysts are required to obtain this needs by projecting an extrovert interpersonal style that fits more closely to an art form.

Design evaluations and maintenance are carried out with users of the systems (Smith and Dunckley, 2002). Although we believe that most of maintenance is routine, but in critical cases how systems are made usable so that users do not suffer their work requires an understanding of working around the system. This phase again clearly shows that maintenance is not a science but often depends on the experience of the users and systems analysts.

Rapid iterations of design and evaluation are often carried in ongoing fashion from early design through implementation. The evaluation steps are performed using an interactive prototyping application that evolves slowly into the final system.

Again, we must understand...

The importance of these activities in systems development is well-known. At the same time, it is well know that in order to gain a better understanding of the organizational problems and users' needs, these techniques should be used flexibly where users should be the center not the systems analysts. How these techniques are followed is more like an art than a science.
In prototyping approach, users interact with the systems and think aloud as they use an interactive prototype to carry out task scenarios related to their work practices. General interview questions are asked at appropriate points from the systems analysts to assess the users' reactions from the systems.

All of the above description shows that there are a number of methods employed in working with the phases of systems development life cycle, but what kinds of systems will be employed often depend on the system analysts that they deem fit. Therefore, we can say that systems development activities are more like art than science.

References

Nielsen, J. (1993). Usability Engineering. New York: Academic Press.

Smith a. And Dunckley (2002). Prototype Evaluation and Redesign: Structuring the Design Space through Contextual Techniques. Interacting with Computers 14, 821 -- 843