It’s Cool…but does it work?

Barbara Henry / Jeff PrestonAugust 16, 2011

Outline

• The Value of the User Experience• User-Centered Design• Tools & Resources• Making it “Stick”• Questions / Answers

1. Identification of key problem areas

2. Avoidance of wasting resources to make unneeded changes

3. Targeting of high value/low effort fixes

4. All of the above

What value can a User-Centered Design process bring to application development?

“The Requirements…”

(for the developers)

1. Must have wheels2. Must seat at least two people3. Must be steerable4. Must go forwards and backwards

“It’s Cool…”

“…but does it work?”

Upon further examination…

• What was likely the main flaw with the “car”?

• What would have helped make it “work”?

Too big Too small It had six wheels The wing No user

manual Its color # of Buttons

Too many features

Hmm….None of these?

Paint it black

Simplify gauges

Make it smaller

iPad-based user manual Larger cabin Make it

biggerRemove 2

wheels

2 week training course

Hmm…None of these

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

With a focused approach on user-centered design, organizations can save money and resources on

1. Development2. Maintenance3. Redesign4. Training5. Support

While at the same time increasing6. Success rates7. Productivity8. User satisfaction9. Job satisfaction

Value Proposition

1. The Basic User-Centered Design Construct2. Tools & Resources3. Making it “Stick”

What would you like to hear more about?

User-Centered Design

Consists of three elements:1. User Research

– Know your audience, their behaviors, goals, intentions2. Usability Testing

– Conduct empirical data gathering with real users – in real scenarios – using real models

3. Usability Framework– Build-out and test within the framework of an iterative process

Elements ofUser-Centered Design

User-Centered DesignUser Research

User Research Profiles:Profiles will describe the varying characteristics of individual users within a single user group

1. Summarizes commonalities2. Anonymous – except by roles or common tasks

User Research Personas: A persona is a concrete “characterization” of a single user group

3. It is not an actual person – it’s a fictitious person that represents the information collected from user groups or communities

4. It represents a high-value group – such as stakeholders or customers5. It explains the probabilities of that group – not the possibilities

User-Centered DesignUsability Testing

Usability Testing Definition:1. The process of having existing or potential users experience your site,

software, or product2. It is a performance-based evaluation3. It is an ongoing process – not a one-shot evaluation4. It is key in maintaining efficiencies in rapidly changing environments

Usability Testing Purpose:5. To provide feedback based on what the user “does”…6. Via specific tasks and objectives…7. Using your site, software, or product…8. So that improvements, efficiencies, & corrections can be made

It is not hypothesis driven, it is activity driven

User-Centered DesignUsability Framework

Usability for Development Lifecycles• Usability testing is possible at most all points within the

development cycle

Requirements Gathering

Design Prototype Development Functional Testing

Testing Deploy

UT

UT

UT

UT

UT

UT

UT

User-Centered DesignUsability Framework

Usability for an Iterative Development Framework• An iterative approach can accommodate usability with

greater frequency – allowing for enhanced effectiveness

Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3 Sprint 4 Sprint 5

Sprint 6 Sprint 7 Sprint 8 Sprint 9 Sprint 10

Tools & Resources

Making it “Stick”Things to keep in mind

Making it “Stick”Be aware of possible objections to a User-Centered Design approach

1. “It might uncover a showstopper”– If there is something wrong with your product, you will want to discover it before your

customers/stakeholders2. “It adds too much time and cost to the development cycle”

– When properly executed within the development cycle, UCD will decrease the number of iterations – thereby saving time and resources ($$$)

– Usability testing does not have to be big and complex. A simple and focused effort will suffice so long as the end-users are involved. Frequent, timely, to-the-point feedback is usually much more relevant and digestible to development teams than long, infrequent laundry lists of problems

– Any money you do spend will pale in comparison to the cost of doing nothing– Post-release corrections and fixes will overwhelm resources with “emergencies”

3. “There are no problems because I can use it just fine…”– Chances are your users cannot– Would you care to stake the project on that?

Making it “Stick”Be aware of possible objections to a User-Centered Design approach

4. “We are too early in the process – we do not have everything thought out”– There is no better time to incorporate UCD

5. “We are too late in the process”– It is best to identify problems early in the development process, but discovering them

any time is better than releasing the project into a production environment when it’s full of usability problems

6. “We’re doing bug testing – that will take care of any problems”– Usability testing and bug testing are very different issues – you cannot afford to be

without either one.

“80% of maintenance is due to unmet or unforeseen user requirements; only 20% is due to bugs or reliability problems” - WebWord.com: A Business Case for Usability

Making it “Stick”Be aware of possible objections to a User-Centered Design approach

And finally….

“We can just explain it in the user’s manual”

(When was the last time you read the user manual?)

What is most important in successful usability studies?

1. High-tech audio/visual equipment

2. Objective, relevant users3. Defined stakeholder goals

and expectations4. The process5. The timing6. The follow-up7. All of the above

Questions?