A successful software system requires both, a strong software architecture and a great user experience (UX). Although it is a quality attribute, UX is surprisingly often neglected by software architects. The characters of people working as UX designers and software architects are often very different, as well as their educational background. Thus, they often don’t understand each other very well and also avoid overly busy communication. This further results in lack of respect for the others’ profession and contribution to the overall success of a software system.
In this talk, using Google Maps as an example, we show many architectural decisions necessary to achieve an excellent UX, as it is expected from Google: Google-like simplicity, a large number of powerful features, and Google-like integration of all kind of helpful services. We aim to increase the mutual understanding between architects and user experience designers. By providing concrete guidelines and best practices, we encourage concrete and intensified collaboration in order to build excellent software systems.
See the slides.
