Post on 15-May-2015
transcript
Design for Strangers Workshop Uzanto Consulting
Design for Strangers: Effective User Experience Design When Your Users are
on Another Continent
Rashmi Sinha
Jonathan Boutelle
Uzanto Consulting
Design for Strangers Workshop Uzanto Consulting
Structure of workshop
Introduction Evaluating Systems (Morning session)
Overview of evaluation Heuristic Evaluation Usability Testing GOMS
Understanding users (Afternoon session) Personas and Scenarios Mental Models and Information Architecture Business of Usability (time permitting)
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Evaluating systems: Available data streamsDifferent data streams yield different types of metrics Heuristic Evaluation Usability Testing
Remote Usability Testing
Server Logs or Transaction Logs Satisfaction Data Page Level Ratings GOMS
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Heuristic Evaluation
Using heuristics (or rules of thumb) for evaluating systems. Expert analyze degree to which system complies with
rules
Heuristics such as Keep user informed of system status Speak the user’s language
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Usability Tests
Test with users Very useful for design purposes
But software must be built before it can be tested
Difficult to use to convince management Often conducted in artificial scenarios
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Remote Usability Testing
Advantages Large Sample Size
Disadvantages Cost Most of the usual disadvantages of usability testing
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Server and Transaction Logs
Can give an accurate view of site activity Can give detailed view of site activity – possible to
drill down Hard to relate to user experience and user goals Hard to understand – massive reams of data Often used by corporations to roughly track user
experience
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Satisfaction Ratings
Give an overall view of the site Such ratings often have business buy-in Very difficult to move such numbers
Might not relate to specific aspects of the site
Make effort not to let the satisfaction levels fall
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GOMS
Can help track the complexity of an interface How much work it will take to complete a task
Might not tell you what real users will do Very helpful in comparing interfaces Can be used with interfaces that have not been
implemented yet
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What Data Streams to Use
What does it measure User Behavior (navigation paths, errors) or User Attitudes
(user loyalty, satisfaction)? Gap between reported and actual behavior. Recommendation: Have at least one data stream of each.
How comprehensive is the coverage? how much of the site is covered the frequency of measurement
Sensitivity of measurement: How sensitive is data stream to changes in the user
experience
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What Data Streams to Use continued• Sampling Bias: Every data stream comes with its own set of
sampling biases.• The economics of measurement will determine what types
of data are practical to collect.• Initial cost• Ongoing cost• Cost of increasing sample size
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Structure of workshop
Introduction Evaluating Systems (Morning session)
Overview of evaluation Heuristic Evaluation Usability Testing GOMS
Understanding users (Afternoon session) Personas and Scenarios Mental Models and Information Architecture Business of Usability (time permitting)
Heuristic Evaluation
Developed by Jakob Nielsen Helps find usability problems in a UI design Small set (3-5) of evaluators examine UI
independently check for compliance with usability principles (“heuristics”)
different evaluators will find different problems evaluators only communicate afterwards
findings are then aggregated
Can perform on working UI or on prototypes or designs
What are heuristics?
Simple easy rules of thumbs for enhancing usability
For example: Have simple and natural dialog Speak the users’ language
Heuristic Evaluation Process
Evaluators go through UI several times inspect various dialogue elements compare with list of usability principles consider other principles/results that come to mind
Usability principles Nielsen’s “heuristics” supplementary list of category-specific heuristics
competitive analysis & user testing of existing products
Use violations to redesign/fix problems
From Jakob Neilsen
Heuristic 1: Visibility of system status
searching database for matches
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
Visibility of system status (cont)
Response Time parameters 0.1 sec: no special indicators needed, why? 1.0 sec: user tends to lose track of data 10 sec: max. duration if user to stay focused on action for longer delays, use percent-done progress bars
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Heuristic 2: Match between system & real world• The system should speak the users' language,
with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms.
• Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.
There should be a match between system & real world follow real world conventions
Use User’s language, not developer’s language
Provide ways for users to backtrack when they make mistakes.
Have clearly labeled exits allowing users to backtrack without an extended interaction.
Support undo and redo.
Heuristic 3: User Control and Freedom
User Freedom Heuristics (cont.)
H2-3: User control & freedom “exits” for
mistaken choices, undo, redo
don’t force down fixed paths
Wizards must respond to Q before going to next Should be easy to good for beginners
have 2 versions (WinZip)
Use a consistent look and feel.
Do not confuse users by changing platform conventions.
Heuristic 4: Consistency and Standards
Consistency (cont.)
Is this confusing?
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Heuristic 5: Error Prevention
Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place.
Example: If user is asked to spell something, e.g. file names, it might be easier to give them a menu from which they can choose the files.
Example: ModesWhen the same action leads to different consequences in different states. For example in older word processors, there was an insert and edit modes. The same key press in the different modes would lead to different outcomes.
Heuristic 6: Recognition rather than recall Make objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information
from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible
or easily retrievable whenever appropriate. Computers good at remembering things, human
beings are not. Computer should display dialog elements to the
user, and have them make a choice. During web navigation, remind users where they are
currently.
Accelerators -- unseen by the novice user -- may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users.
Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
Heuristic 7: Flexibility & efficiency of use
Flexibility (cont.)
accelerators for experts (e.g., gestures, kb shortcuts) allow users to tailor frequent actions (e.g., macros)
Edit
Cut
Copy
Paste
OR
Ctrl-V
Ctrl-C
Ctrl-X
Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed.
Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
Heuristic 8: Aesthetic and minimalist design
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
Heuristic 9: Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Heuristic 10: Help and documentation
•It is better if the system can be used without documentation, but it may be necessary to provide help and documentation.
•Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.
Phases of Heuristic Evaluation
Pre-evaluation training give evaluators needed domain knowledge and
information on the scenario
Evaluation individuals evaluate and then aggregate results
Severity rating determine how severe each problem is (priority)
can do this first individually and then as a group
Debriefing discuss the outcome with design team
How to Perform Evaluation
At least two passes for each evaluator first to get feel for flow and scope of system second to focus on specific elements
If system is walk-up-and-use or evaluators are domain experts, no assistance needed otherwise might supply evaluators with scenarios
Each evaluator produces list of problems explain why with reference to heuristic or other information be specific and list each problem separately
Examples
Can’t copy info from one window to another violates “Minimize the users’ memory load” (H1-3) fix: allow copying
Typography uses mix of upper/lower case formats and fonts violates “Consistency and standards” (H2-4) slows users down probably wouldn’t be found by user testing fix: pick a single format for entire interface
Severity Rating
Used to allocate resources to fix problems Estimates of need for more usability efforts Combination of
frequency impact persistence (one time or repeating)
Should be calculated after all evals. are in Should be done independently by all judges Severity Ratings
0 - don’t agree that this is a usability problem 1 - cosmetic problem 2 - minor usability problem 3 - major usability problem; important to fix 4 - usability catastrophe; imperative to fix
Debriefing
Conduct with evaluators, observers, and development team members
Discuss general characteristics of UI Suggest potential improvements to address major
usability problems Dev. team rates how hard things are to fix Make it a brainstorming session
little criticism until end of session
Results of Using HE
Single evaluator achieves poor results only finds 35% of usability problems 5 evaluators find ~ 75% of usability problems why not more evaluators???? 10? 20?
adding evaluators costs more many evaluators won’t find many more problems
Summary
Heuristic evaluation is a discount method Have evaluators go through the UI twice Ask them to see if it complies with heuristics
note where it doesn’t and say why
Combine the findings from 3 to 5 evaluators Have evaluators independently rate severity Discuss problems with design team Alternate with user testing
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Heuristic Evaluation Exercise
Split into two groups Conduct Heuristic Evaluation as a group (Create list
of heuristic violation) Each person within group provides a severity rating
for each heuristic violation (eliminate redundancies) Average severity for each group Present back to larger group
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Structure of workshop
Introduction Evaluating Systems (Morning session)
Overview of evaluation Heuristic Evaluation Usability Testing GOMS
Understanding users (Afternoon session) Personas and Scenarios Mental Models and Information Architecture Business of Usability (time permitting)
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Overview of user testing
Why do user testing? Choosing participants Designing the test Collecting data Analyzing the data
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Why do User Testing?
Can’t tell how good or bad UI is until people use it!
Other methods are based on evaluators who? may know too much may not know enough (about tasks, etc.)
Summary: Hard to predict what real users will do
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Choosing Participants Representative of eventual users in terms of
job-specific vocabulary / knowledge tasks
If you can’t get real users, get approximation system intended for doctors
get medical students
system intended for electrical engineers get engineering students
Use incentives to get participants
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Ethical Considerations
Sometimes tests can be distressing users have left in tears users can be embarrassed by mistakes
You have a responsibility to alleviate this make voluntary with informed consent avoid pressure to participate let them know they can stop at any time [Gomoll] stress that you are testing the system, not them make collected data as anonymous as possible
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User Test Proposal
A report that contains objective description of system being testing task environment & materials participants methodology tasks test measures
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Selecting Tasks
Should reflect what real tasks will be like Tasks from analysis & design can be used
may need to shorten if they take too long require background that test user won’t have
Avoid bending tasks in direction of what your design best supports
Don’t choose tasks that are too fragmented
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Deciding on Data to Collect
Two types of data process data
observations of what users are doing & thinking bottom-line data
summary of what happened (time, errors, success…) i.e., the dependent variables
Focus on process data first gives good overview of where problems are
Bottom-line doesn’t tell you where to fix just says: “too slow”, “too many errors”, etc.
Hard to get reliable bottom-line results need many users for statistical significance (don’t bother unless
needed)
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The “Thinking Aloud” Method
Need to know what users are thinking, not just what they are doing
Ask users to talk while performing tasks tell us what they are thinking tell us what they are trying to do tell us questions that arise as they work tell us things they read
Make a recording or take good notes make sure you can tell what they were doing
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Thinking Aloud (cont.)
Prompt the user to keep talking “tell me what you are thinking”
Only help on things you have pre-decided keep track of anything you do give help on
Recording use a digital watch/clock take notes, plus if possible
record audio and video (or even event logs)
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Using the Test Results
Summarize the data make a list of all critical incidents (CI)
positive: something they liked or worked well negative: difficulties with the UI
include references back to original data try to judge why each difficulty occurred
What does data tell you? UI work the way you thought it would?
consistent with heuristic evaluation users take approaches you expected?
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Using the Results (cont.)
Update task analysis and rethink design rate severity & ease of fixing CI’s fix both severe problems & make the easy fixes
Will thinking aloud give the right answers? not always if you ask a question, people will always give an answer,
even it is has nothing to do with the facts try to avoid specific questions
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Measuring Bottom-Line Usability
Situations in which numbers are useful time requirements for task completion successful task completion compare two designs on speed or # of errors
Do not combine with thinking-aloud talking can affect speed and accuracy (neg. & pos.)
Time is easy to record Error or successful completion is harder
define in advance what these mean
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Analyzing the Numbers
Example: trying to get task time <=30 min. test gives: 20, 15, 40, 90, 10, 5 mean (average) = 30 median (middle) = 17.5 looks good! wrong answer, not certain of anything
Factors contributing to our uncertainty small number of test users (n = 6) results are very variable (standard deviation = 32)
std. dev. measures dispersal from the mean
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Measuring User Preference
How much users like or dislike the system can ask them to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 or have them choose among statements
“best UI I’ve ever…”, “better than average”…
hard to be sure what data will mean novelty of UI, feelings, not realistic setting, etc.
If many give you low ratings, you are in trouble Can get some useful data by asking
what they liked, disliked, where they had trouble, best part, worst part, etc. (redundant questions)
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User Testing: Cultural Issues
Are users the same all over Obviously not Getting users that are as similar as possible to your real
users is important Can you test on users from another country?
Probably not for things that are culturally specific Entertainment marketing-ware Generic business software
Yes for applications targeted at specialists with strong international work cultures
Doctors Software engineers
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Testing Details
Order of tasks choose one simple order (simple -> complex)
Training depends on how real system will be used
What if someone doesn’t finish assign very large time & large # of errors
Pilot study helps you fix problems with the study do twice, first with colleagues, then with real users
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Instructions to Participants
Describe the purpose of the evaluation “I’m testing the product; I’m not testing you”
Tell them they can quit at any time Demonstrate the equipment Explain how to think aloud Explain that you will not provide help Describe the task
give written instructions
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Details (cont.)
Keeping variability down recruit test users with similar background brief users to bring them to common level perform the test the same way every time
don’t help some more than others (plan in advance)
make instructions clear
Debriefing test users often don’t remember, so show video segments ask for comments on specific features
show them screen (online or on paper)
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Summary
User testing is important, but takes time & effort Early testing can be done on a mock-ups (low-fi) Use real tasks & representative participants Be ethical & treat your participants well Want to know what people are doing & why
i.e., collect process data
Using bottom line data requires more users to get statistically reliable results
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User Testing Exercise
Divide into groups Each group devise a test plan
2 tasks, where to get users from, who to test
Test someone from the other group Note findings
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Structure of workshop
Introduction Evaluating Systems (Morning session)
Overview of evaluation Heuristic Evaluation Usability Testing GOMS
Understanding users (Afternoon session) Personas and Scenarios Mental Models and Information Architecture Business of Usability (time permitting)
Design for Strangers Workshop Uzanto Consulting
GOMS
Can help track the complexity of an interface How much work it will take to complete a task
Might not tell you what real users will do Very helpful in comparing interfaces Can be used with interfaces that have not been
implemented yet
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GOMS Overview
Goals, Objects, Methods, Selection Rules A way of measuring how much work it takes to do
something using a given information system System doesn’t have to exist yet
Many GOMS variants: most are quite complex and difficult to implement
A simplified version of Keystroke-Level GOMS will be presented today
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GOMS Keystroke Actions
The actions K (Click, Keying): .2 Seconds M (mentally preparing): 1.35 Seconds P (pointing): 1.1 Seconds H (homing) (move hand between keyboard and pointing device) .4
Second R (system responding): varies by system / action
Very approximate estimates of time to do task Useless for predicting how much time a task will take
Thinking doesn’t always take 1.35 second Pointing time varies with size of target and distance from current
location (Fitt’s law) Yet valid on a comparative basis if two designs / systems are analyzed
using the same technique
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EZ-GOMS Calculation
Explicitly specify a task Typically many potential paths through a given design, optional fields etc:
get explicit Consider using ranges (minimum, maximum, typical) to get a better sense
of best / worst case scenarios Calculate all the actions that will be taken to perform that task Add M (mental preparation) in using this rules
In front of all clicking In front of all pointing
Remove “M”s using these rules (you’ll do this automatically after a little practice)
Remove anticipated “M”s (M P M K-> M P K) Remove “M”s within cognitive units (“fred”-> MKMKMKMK->MKKKK) Remove overlapping “M”s (adjacent to Rs) Remove “M”s before consecutive terminators }} Remove “M”s that are terminators of commands
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EZ-GOMS Example
H M P K H (select name text box) M K K K K K K (enter name) H M P K H (select password text box) M K K K K K K (enter password) H M P K (click “sign in” button) R (waiting for the server to respond)
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Understanding User NeedsAfternoon Session
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Structure of workshop
Introduction Evaluating Systems (Morning session)
Overview of evaluation Heuristic Evaluation Usability Testing GOMS
Understanding users (Afternoon session) Personas and Scenarios Mental Models and Information Architecture Business of Usability (time permitting)
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Problem with traditional user research methods Long sessions of observing users or interviewing
them or participatory design. Appropriate in face to face interaction situations. Methods work well in designing for easy to access
audiences. Difficult to use for remote users. Difficult to use when designing for global audiences. Also difficult to use such methods to make business case
since numbers are small and data is qualitative.
So what is the answer?
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Semi-structured user research methods Using mostly phone and online surveys Complementary with, rather than an alternative to
open-ended methods Can work for information-rich domains
Help understand information representations in user’s minds. e.g. design of navigation for cell phone.
Work well in remote situations
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Two types of user research methods
Part 1: User information needs What user needs are important? Can users be differentiated into groups on
the basis of such needs? Can this grouping be used to form personas?
Part 2: User Categorizations Scope & boundaries of information domain Structure of information domain Differences between groups of people
(different user groups, different cultures, stakeholders)
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Many potential users
One Persona
From Alan Cooper
Part 1: Understanding user needs, creating scenarios & personas remotely Why persona based design
One of the problems in design is that it is very hard to visualize an abstract “USER” and what he / she might want
• Develop one or two persona of the typical “user” from interviews with many users
• Persona is made up person, your so called “typical user”.
• Should be based on your experiences with actual users in the interview stage.
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From Alan Cooper
Persona based Design Process
Persona: The archetypical user
Goals Goals of the persona in using the software
Tasks Specific steps needed to accomplish goal.
Scenario The usage scenario, the whole incident of software usage
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Characteristics of Personas (from Cooper)
“Hypothetical Archetypes” Archetype:
An original model after which other similar things are patterned; a prototype
A precise description of a user and what they want to accomplish Imaginary, but precise Specific, but stereotyped
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Targeted Design with Personas
Describe a person in terms of their Goals in life (especially relating to this project) Capabilities, inclinations, and background
People have a “visceral” ability to generalize about real and fictional people They won’t be 100% accurate, but it feels natural to think about people
this way
Why use personas If you try to satisfy everyone, you end up satisfying no one. A
compromise design pleases no-one From all your interviews etc.,
decide what is your typical user / users, create a specific persona then try to please that that persona 100% of the time.
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Advantages of Personas
Targeted Design Works Better Example: Roller suitcases
Was designed specifically for airline employees, pilots, airhostesses etc.
Has become popular with all classes of people In order to do good design you need to have a specific person in mind,
and think in terms of that person every time a design decision needs to be made
Puts an end to feature debates Makes hypothetical arguments less hypothetical
Q: “What if the user wants to print this out?” Typical discussion “The user will / wiil not want to print often.” “Given her tasks, and Emilee won’t want to print often.”
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Case Study using Personas
Primary Persona Joe, the executive
Make him happy 100% of the time
Secondary Persona Dan, the traveler
Try to take care of his needs as well
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Developing Personas cont.
Joe: The busy traveling executive from a multinational company. He is on the road about 10 days a month.
He is very fond of food but is afraid to explore in strange cities, and prefers restaurants which serve good, but not exotic food.
He is also fond of a beer with his meal.
He does not like to travel far for food, prefers to walk or hop into a cab for a short ride
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Developing Personas cont.
Dan: Driving his car across the country after graduating. Gets to a different city every night and finds a hotel and a restaurant.
He wants to explore the town, find the local hangouts, understand the town’s culture.
He likes to try different kinds of food.
He prefers restaurant in the middle of the town.
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Goals and Tasks of Users
Goals are larger functions that the user is hoping to satisfy Get acquainted with the city, discover its special cuisine Not have to travel too much for food Relax after a hard day’s work / driving
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Tasks of users Tasks are the specific steps that the user has to go through in
order to accomplish his goals. Asks include the usage of the software. Find information about various restaurants Decide on the one based on factors such as price, cuisine,
serves alcohol or not/ distance from location Get to the restaurant Eat Pay for meal
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Development of Scenarios
Primary Persona: Joe, the executiveMake him happy 100% of the time
•Scenario: Joe’s company has tied up with some Delhi IT company, and he is visiting Delhi for the first time.
•He is staying somewhere near South Ex.•He needs to find a restaurant to eat at.•He is not feeling adventerous, so not Dosa! Just some safe Burger and Fries.•So Joe turns to his trusted Palm
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Development of Scenarios
Joe needs to input his location into his palm.
Input what kind of food he wants or the program can use defaults
The information returned: list of possible restaurants along with their relevant details, kinds of food etc.
More details about each on request: details such as the availability of beer, if they take credit cards, links to reviews etc.
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Development of Scenarios
The information returned to Joe needs to be broad (offer a number of options) and deep (offer more details upon request)
Location Information is another concern of Joe’s.Ideally he wants exact distance & directions to restaurant.Not possible, not live website
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Development of Scenarios
What else does Joe need? To mark restaurants that he liked.
Lets think more…
Compromise: Tag restaurants in terms of neighborhoods. Joe can give current neighborhood.
Can be shown map with neighborhoods marked out & approximate distances.
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Our secondary Persona
Does this design make Dan happy?
Designing for one specific user often makes other users happy as well.
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Daily Use Fast to learn Shortcuts and customization after more use
Necessary Use Infrequent but required Nothing fancy needed
Edge Cases Ignore or save for version 2
Aspects of Scenarios
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Personas and Market Segmentation
Uses of Market Segmentation Used to identify clusters of people product can
appeal to. Using demographics or using
attitudinal/psychological/psychographic variables. Questions focus on like / dislike of product concept
what do you think of vanilla coke or green Heinz ketchup?
Forecasts marketplace acceptance of products. Helps convince executives to build product. Not helpful for defining and designing product.
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Reconciling personas and market segments Build personas on top of segments
Ground the personas in reality. Define a persona for each main segment
Focus on goals and behaviors of users. Advantages:
Easy to get buy-in for personas from management, engineering etc.
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Persona building method
Method Conduct secondary research
Examine existing market segments Conduct interviews with various stakeholders, including multiple
users Conduct online survey if users are remote. Find patterns. Pick nugget and interesting tidbit and build persona around it.
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Conduct secondary research
Examine existing market segments What type of user population is product/site targeting
How should you identify current segments? Easier for demographic segments More difficult for attitudinal segments
What type of population characteristics are useful for design purposes?
Example: Segments for Palm based restaurant finder
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Stakeholder and user interviews
Can be in person or on phone Semi-structured interviews:
Decide on few questions before-hand leaving room for change.
Ask about scenarios of usage: e.g., last time they used product. Go through steps of usage, exact context, motivations
etc. Tape interview if possible or keep a phone log. Interview people from each user segment. Ask for a few ratings on a five-point scale.
Aggregate rating information for sake of comparison.
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Online survey of user needs (optional) Important for remote users or if there are many types of
users Example
Conduct online survey on factors used in finding restaurants for travelers.
Identified factors important in choosing restaurants. e.g., Food quality, décor, wine selection, cuisine, service.
Ask for importance ratings (on 5-point scale) of factors.
Tie response to behavior: Asked respondents to recall a specific incident of choosing a restaurant, rather than answer questions in an abstract fashion.
Option: Ask about several scenarios of usage from same person. e.g., One restaurant visit with business colleagues, another with friends.
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Personas Exercise
Divide into groups Craft a primary and secondary persona for your product Think of all that you know about your users
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Structure of workshop
Introduction Evaluating Systems (Morning session)
Overview of evaluation Heuristic Evaluation Usability Testing GOMS
Understanding users (Afternoon session) Personas and Scenarios Mental Models and Information Architecture Business of Usability (time permitting)
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Understanding User categorizations Overview
Why people categorize? The structure of semantic memory Is understanding user categorization important for design?
Methods Free-listing. Types of Card Sorting. Testing information architecture.
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Is understanding categorization useful for design? Direct use: when user categorization informs design, such as
that of menus or of navigation design. Often referred to as information architecture (IA).
Indirect use: good to have broad understanding how users think about product even when user categorization does not directly inform IA.
Important to remember: Categorization is not static. People are good at learning new
categories. If you provide the context and the right examples, they can learn new categories or alter boundaries of old categories.
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Should interfaces always reflect user categories faithfully? No.
Categorization is far too important to depend only on what user thinks.
Should also be influenced by business proposition, strategy, brand etc.
Different user groups might differ in their perception of domain. No one scheme can serve them all perfectly.
User research can provide several alternative categorization schemes, allowing designers the freedom to make choices.
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Do categorizations work across culture
Research shows the structure of categories can be similar across cultures,
though content of categories might not be. Enough similarity for successful design.
The net generation shares a lot of culture
Cross-cultural design has been happening anyway. Japanese cars Italian fashion Swiss chocolates Indian ???
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Free-listing methods for understanding scope and
boundary of domain
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Free-listing to explore domain scope and boundaries Goals
Explore boundaries and scope of domain across a group of people.
Gain familiarity with user vocabulary for the domain. Use as a precursor to card-sorting, to define and limit the
domain, and frame card items in the user’s language. Method
Can be conducted as part of interview, or as written exercise Ask respondent, “Name all the x's you know.” Give sufficient
time to do so. How many respondents?
Depends on how much agreement there is about the domain. more agreement > fewer respondents.
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Free-listing menu for Mc Donald’s
User No 1
French fries
Cheese burger
Shake
Hamburger
French fries
Chicken sandwich
Chicken Mcnuggets
Fish sandwich
Shake
Hamburger
User No 2French friesChicken Cheese burgerShake
User No 4Chicken McnuggetsCheese burgerBacon cheese burgerFrench fries
User No 5HamburgerQuarter pounderBig macChicken fajitaFrench friesApple pie
User No 3HamburgerCheese burgerFrench friesMc ribChicken sandwich
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Analyzing free-listing data
Create a list of all items, sorted by their average rank (of being listed by a respondent). Examine how that rank order changes with the addition of each new respondent. If the ranks are relatively stable, then you can stop adding new respondents.
Items Listed by % participants
Cheese burger
Chicken Mcnuggets
Chicken sandwich
Fish sandwich
French fries
Shake
60%
70%
40%
40%
100%
30%
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Concept structure
–Plot items according to frequency of mention
% of times items were mentioned
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Items
Core
Middle
Periphery
•Divide items into 3 concentric circles (use your own break points):
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Other uses for free-listing
Comparing cultural or other group differences How do two groups perceive the same domain?
Comparing two domains How does perception of McDonald’s menu compare with
Wendy’s?
Segment respondents into types based on familiarity: Find respondents with greater domain familiarity or those
who perceive domain in idiosyncratic fashion?
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Card-sorting and other methods for designing information
architecture
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Case Study: Design of online travel guide Example: Designing an online travel guide
to help users plan trips. Purpose of card sort:
to structure the website for helping users find travel information, and create personalized travel guides.
Items include lodging, entertainment, local information, When
to Go, Travel by Car/Air/Bus, Music Events, Hiking, Day Trips, Skiing, Diving, Golf, Emergency Info.
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Open card-sorting
Goal: to understand the overall categorization scheme
Method: Open card sort Users given items. Asked to create categories
Options: Provide total number of categories to be
created (avoid problems with splitters and lumpers)
Successive card sorts to create taxonomies It is ok to put one card in multiple groups Ask for labels for each grouping
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Cluster Analysis for card-sorting data
Cluster Analysis Suggests a structural
solution. Easy to translate into design.
Challenge: How to reconcile multiple schemes?
HotelsBed and Breakfast
RestaurantsHostels
Emergency InfoCurrencyCamping
HikingDay Trips
SkiingDiving
SurfingMountain Climbing
Biking
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Closed card-sorting to design an IA
Goal: to understand goodness of existing information architecture and labels
Method: Closed card sort Users given items and category labels. Asked to place each item in a
category. Do not allow creation of a miscellaneous category.
Useful for: Understanding user categorizations when category labels are a given Refining existing categorization scheme.
Options: Allowing items to belong to multiple categories. Providing category descriptions rather than category labels.
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Doing closed card-sorting online
User works with given categories Each item (card) occupies a row Each category is represented by a column An “Other” category catches items that do not fit in
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Comparing card-sorts for different user types Very useful for understanding differences in mental maps
of various groups Can help understand differences between user groups,
different cultures etc. Try to create consensus maps to reconcile differences
between different groups.
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Practical exercise
Using the RUMM (Rapid User Mental Modeling) method.
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Structure of workshop
Introduction Evaluating Systems (Morning session)
Overview of evaluation Heuristic Evaluation Usability Testing GOMS
Understanding users (Afternoon session) Personas and Scenarios Mental Models and Information Architecture Business of Usability (time permitting)
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Swimming with Sharks: The Business of Usability
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What we’ll cover
Stakeholder analysis for fun and profit Making a business case for a User Experience
project Test out the ideas with a sample project
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Stakeholder Analysis
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Who are stakeholders and why should we analyze them? Stakeholder: Anyone who is affected by, or
can affect, your project Goals of understanding stakeholders
Make your design better, by getting important information about the business context
Identify potential obstacles ahead of time so you can deal with them
Change design to address the issues raised by stakeholders
Marshal evidence to counter their objections
Neutralize resistance by making stakeholders feel heard
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Putting Stakeholders into context
It does not matter how good the design is if it is not approved by management and actually put into operation
A given project isn’t necessarily in everybody’s best interest This isn’t about playing politics: this is about the institutional
decision making process. People represent different organizations within an enterprise If a project is seen as a big negative by various organizations, it
should either address the concerns raised or justify itself strongly in order to be approved
Stakeholders as another class of users who design should satisfy A real person you can talk to Goals are typically very concrete and business-metrics oriented.
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Understanding Who’s Who in an Organization Org charts don’t tell the whole story Detective work needed to sort out
Motive Influence
How to do? Indirect
Watch for “Influence Tells”
Direct “What are the organizational challenges?”
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The Interview
Ask semi-structured questions about the product in general What group of users is least well-served? What one change would impact profits the most? Where do you see <<product>> in 5 years?
Find out what their conception of your project is What might happen if this project went well? What are some risks associated with this project?
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Remote Interviews
Online Survey Ask same questions as in face-to-face interview Limit to 5 minutes of work
Phone Interviews Follow-up on survey answers: clarify answers, try to get a
sense of a concerns
Compared to face-to-face interview Less emotional connection Even more necessary (remoteness means you know even
less about stakeholders and their concerns)
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Recording your understanding
Stakeholders Position Influence Interest in Project
Goals Objections to Project
Andre Agassi CEO 10 High Estimates quarterly estimates for next 4 quarters
Seems like iSeems like it w on’t pay off in the time frame he’s most concerned about
Chris Evert Product Manager
6 Medium Increase % of company revenue generated by this product Get noticed by Andre
Will it reduce number of sales?
Table 1: Stakeholder Perspectives
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Prioritizing Stakeholders
Low Interest
• High Influence / High Interest: Engage• Low Influence / High Interest: Use as Information Source• High Influence / Low Interest: Broadly Satisfy• Low Influence / Low Interest: Avoid
High Interest
Low Influence
High InfluenceAndre
Chris
Sandeep
Anu
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An organizational dilemma
Usability often an Independent Business Unit IBUs provide “accountability”, make measurement easier
Engineering is responsible for paying for usability services Engineering measured on the basis of
Schedule Feature checklists # bugs
Marketing/Sales measured on the basis of Sales
Engineering invests in usability Money, Time
but Marketing / Sales reap the benefits! Solution: tie engineering compensation to usability metrics
Good luck
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Building a Business Case for Usability
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ROI of Usability: Previous work
Cost – Justifying Usability (Bias & Mayhew) Cost (employees,subjects,equipment) Benefit (task speed, user errors, late design changes,
increased sales) Internal vs. external Internal benefits increase with # users and frequency of use External benefits increase with development budget, large base of sales
Usability Return on Investment (Nielson Norman Group) “Usability Projects have an ROI of 150 %” Measured by
sales conversions Traffic / Visitor Count User performance / productivity
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Myths of Usability ROI*
Generalizing ROI estimates Assuming improvements are due to usability Benefits to customer booked as benefits to software company
Support, training are profit centers in enterprise software! How does usability increase revenue?
Win/loss reports for enterprise software sales User research to determine buying reasons for shrink-wrap software registration / shopping cart behavior for ecommerce
Ignores competitive landscape Being the “overall best choice” in your niche wins you the sale Usability may play a greater or lesser role in determining this
Ignores potential negative business impact of changes that enhance usability
Marketing vs. User Experience in ecommerce Ignoring opportunity costs
“Should the project be approved? Yes, because NPV is positive.”
*Rosenberg, BayCHI 2003
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Building a Business Case *
Understand your business, The financial levers for the company The competitive environment that company operates in Understand Project Approval Process
Who has say, what are the stages of project approval What metrics the enterprise cares about
Understand threats and opportunities from UX perspective User and Stakeholder Research Find areas where user and business interests are in tandem
Try to frame UX projects such that Risk low, payoff high (it is all about risk) Chances of success are high
Estimate ROI Estimate Costs: Development,Negative Revenue Impact, Opportunity Cost Estimate Benefit (be conservative)
After the project Follow up: track successes and failures. Be accountable.
*reference: Herman,J. CHI 2004
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Key Points
Not every project will be justifiable ROI for some projects will be huge
Ultimate proof is in “moving the needle” Different companies care about different “financial levers”
(business metrics) Make your case on the basis of those numbers
For example, # Registrations, % successful registrations, support calls per customer, average sale size
Management doesn’t care about methodology Don’t justify methodology
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Key Points (cont.)
UX practitioners should understand business levers and incorporate them into design at a core level Post-hoc justification is not enough Project selection and design should be informed by
business metrics
Some UX practitioners should learn about business analysis
Take a process oriented approach Evolve a process that takes into account the various
interests and goals within an organization
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Example Situations: ROI in an ecommerce Context Context: Online book seller is planning to improve
the checkout process Metrics:
Number of shopping cart bailouts Performance on usability test
It is easy to justify ROI of shopping cart improvement since fewer bailouts means more sales. Design should focus on reducing bailouts
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Example Situations: ROI in a Customer Service Context Context: Bank is planning to two projects to reduce call
volume (a) let users look at their account balance, and (b) let users update their contact information.
Metrics Call volume metrics (overall # of calls, per task # of calls) # Online Transactions (that plausibly replaced calls) Performance on usability test
It is easier to justify ROI of updating contact information than of looking at their account balance
Updating of contact information plausibly replaces a phone call Looking at account balance does NOT plausibly replace a phone
call. Did they even care, or are they just browsing? Even if they did care, benefit is more diffuse (customer convenience ->
loyalty)
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Crossing the Chasm
Where in the technology adoption life cycle does usability matter?
Early Adaptors
Innovators
Early Majority
Late Majority
Laggards
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Revised technology life-cycle
chasm
main street
tornado
Early Adaptors
InnovatorsEarly Majority
Late Majority
Laggards
bowling alley
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ROI of UX in an Outsourcing context
Software Services -> Software Products Product development requires understanding users on a
deeper level Good times ahead?
For Services It depends on the situation of your customer Your ROI of designing systems that satisfy your customer
is huge (duh) But your customer is hardly ever the user So it depends on the business situation of your client What kind of clients would care about usability?
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What kind of clients care about usability?
Clients who’s customers have low switching costs Money Time Expertise
Clients where the buyer=the user Business success comes from making the buyer happy: if the buyer is the user,
usability plays a bigger role Clients operating in a fiercely competitive landscape
The better your competition is, the better you have to be to win a sale Usability is one dimension by which products can be better
Clients making very high quality products Trying to cross the chasm?
Four types of contexts Content Ecommerce Desktop Enterprise
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What’s Next
Where do we go from here? Can engineers do usability work on their own products? Are usability specialists needed? What kind of processes / corporate structures will facilitate
usability work in software companies?
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Thank you
jon@uzanto.comrashmi@uzanto.com
slides and other material will be posted at www.uzanto.com/papers/indiamar04