Position Paper for Workshop W5 Crossing the Chasm

Defense. Between the years 1980-1983 I was the project manager for a major project in the Electronic Division. The main user tasks included data entry and data manipulation. Primary design concerns were raising the user performance and prevent accidents caused by user errors. My first exposure to usability was between the years 1984-1985, during a sabbatical leave of absence from Rafael, I worked for the DI department of BNR (now Nortel) on the design of a prototype of a touch sensitive telephone set. On returning to Rafael, I decided to promote usability in Rafael. Our department manager agreed to assign me a job of usability designer. In 1986 I was the first person in the Electronic Division whose job was usability evaluation. Between the years 1986-1989 I was assigned for part time studied at the Technion of Haifa, Israel, towards a Ph.D. in Behavior and Management Sciences (which unfortunately, I was prevented from completing). However, in few months I realized that they were not willing to offer me enough projects at which I could contribute. Between the years 1987-1991 I worked for the Human Factors department of Rafael, where I participated in several projects that dealt with the usability of video recording. Between the years 1992-1993 I worked for IBM and for ISG, trying to raise usability through jobs of software designer and technical writer. My manager in IBM was in charge of the development of UI desig