6.5 Interaction capability measures

What this heading covers

The eight families run from recognising that the product is appropriate, through learning it, operating it, being protected from error, being engaged, being included, being assisted and understanding what it is doing. Eight families is a statement in itself: interaction is not one number. The 2023 model added user controllability to this characteristic, and the draft gives it no separate measure family, so a team that needs it must define a local measure. The human factors terms, accessibility, usability and user, are defined in clause 3 and they keep these measures tied to people rather than to interface features.

Record position: characteristic 4 of 9, carrying 8 of the 40 measure families in clause 6.

What the heading asks of a team

The common confusion

Interaction capability replaced usability, and the eight families make it clear that one satisfaction score is not the characteristic. Learnability, error protection and inclusivity fail separately, and each needs its own evidence.

The measure families in this characteristic

• 6.5.2 Appropriateness recognizability measures
• 6.5.3 Learnability measures
• 6.5.4 Operability measures
• 6.5.5 User error protection measures
• 6.5.6 User engagement measures
• 6.5.7 Inclusivity measures
• 6.5.8 User assistance measures
• 6.5.9 Self-descriptiveness measures

What to put in place before publication

1. Name the user groups and the range of needs the interaction measures cover, including people with disabilities.
2. Choose the families that matter for this product and record why the others are out of scope this cycle.
3. Set up the observation or test method for each chosen family, with a sample that represents the group.
4. Define how user controllability will be measured, and label it as a local measure.
5. Keep satisfaction and engagement evidence separate from task performance evidence.

Where teams usually fall short

• A single usability score from five colleagues, presented as interaction quality for the product.
• Accessibility reduced to a scanner result, with no measure of whether people can complete a task.

What happens next

The eight family pages follow the contents order. If you can read only two, read user error protection and inclusivity: they are the two that most often expose a product everyone internally found easy.