Is ISO 9241 (Ergonomics of Human System Interaction) relevant in the industry?

Question

Are standards like ISO 9241 "Ergonomics of Human System Interaction" of any relevance in the industry? Are there examples of certified software products? And would you do a certification of your software products?

Answer 1

It is a useful read, and has some applicability to UI. But I wouldn't go through the trouble to certify an application. General rule of thumb is don't waste efforts that won't increase user base and their satisfaction. But as I said there are lessons to be learned that will benefit your users such as placing related functioonality close by and suff like that.

Answer 2

It depends by what you mean with "the industry". If you have, as you say, a customer that demands it then you have no choice or you don't get the contract. There are a couple of "industries", e.g. government, telecommunication, airlines etc. that demand and support these kind of standards for a good reason. These standards are not just some more or less funny reads but define the basic elements and patterns for UIs and human-computer-interaction. If you write a specification or an RFI for an application or service that has a UI, you don't need to define each and every aspect but just refer to the standard document. This is very clear, both for the contractee as well as for the contractor.