How do developers meet users? Attitudes and processes in software development

This keynote paper argues for an increased understanding of the various roles involved in the development work to be able to achieve the goal of developing increased usability. Human Computer Interaction (HCI) has for a long time been arguing for the sake of the users, but to be able to deliver methods, tools and processes that better fit the needs of developers we should study and understand development work to a larger extent. This paper discusses what HCI and software engineering contributes to each other's disciplines as well as what research contributes to practice. This also means an increased understanding of what research that counts in the academic context. Finally I argue that research should focus more on real problems of real development work, rather than on research that is easily publishable.