Making human factors effective in industry: examples from business telephone systems

Contributions by human factors to all phases of the product development cycle are illustrated by work done on business telephone systems. The work includes surveys of customer needs, laboratory tests of alternative physical designs and control procedures, development of efficient and effective instructional methods, field studies of delivery systems, and field evaluations of the final product. It is also demonstrated that data from applied studies can lead to general principles which are useful in other situations. Finally, suggestions are given about effective timing and organisational structure for human factors work.