HUMAN FACTORS DIGEST No1 – 10 basic principles
Human Factors – probably the most complicated element in the aviation industry. In this article, we are going to review 10 golden principles to be respected by the system designers.
BASIC DESIGN ELEMENTS
Principle No 1 – Make systems durable
Systems and equipment shall be sufficiently durable to operate and maintain under the conditions for which it was designed or procured.
Principle No 2 – Allocate functions appropriately
Functions should be allocated to equipment or personnel so as to achieve reliable system performance with the needed sensitivity, precision, time, and safety at minimum cost and with the minimum level skills required to maintain and operate the system.
Principle No 3 – Test with users
Systems and equipment human factors considerations shall employ early and continuous testing with actual users in a realistic environment.
Principle No 4 – Make the system reliable
The system should be reliable, thereby maximizing the availability to the users.
A system does not have to experience a complete shutdown to be considered unreliable by the user. A system that is functioning, but performing its intended function poorly, may cause the user to consider the system unreliable. For instance, the user may perceive the system as unreliable if it misses alert conditions, provides incomplete information about the operational situation, or performs in a degraded state under certain operational conditions.
SIMPLICITY
Principle No 5 – Design for simplicity
The system or equipment shall represent the simplest design possible consistent with the functional requirements and expected maintenance and operational concepts.
Equipment designed with simplicity in mind is generally more reliable and easier for personnel to maintain and operate. When different designs are compared from a human factors view, the simplest design usually has less potential for human error.
Principle No 6 – Minimize training
Systems and equipment shall be capable of being maintained, operated, and repaired in the planned operational and maintenance environment with minimal training.
Principle No 7 – Make functions obvious
Systems and equipment should be designed so that basic system functions are obvious to the user. Do not overcomplicate the functions.
CONSISTENCY
Principle No 8 – Make design consistent
Systems and equipment should be designed to be consistent; appearing, behaving, and responding the same throughout.
Consistent means adhering to the same principles with minimal variation. For systems, this entails maintaining a common design philosophy. Consistent design allows users to take general knowledge and skills learned from one system and apply it to other similar systems without extensive learning or training.
Principle No 9 – Be consistent with user mental model. To decrease learning or training times, systems should be designed to be consistent with the mental model of the users.
Principle No 10 – Minimize inconsistency.
If an occasional departure from consistent design is necessary to support user task performance, designers should minimize the extent of the inconsistency with the rest of the user interface.
BOTTOM LINE
The following are some areas that can be exploited to obtain consistency with user mental models in system design:
- Analogy with real life objects
- Experience with similar systems
- Previous operational experience
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