Usability Anonymous

A 12 Step Program for Better User Experiences

Jay Goldman • Radiant Core, Inc.David Crow • Microsoft Canada

$yourName

Hi! My name is $yourName, and I have a Usability

Problem.

We write BAD code.But we do GREAT

design.

1• Admit You Have a Problem

You are powerless to design GOOD usability alone and the

user experience of your software has become unmanageable.

Know thy User.

Google This!

•Personas

•Qualitative vs. Quantitative

•Analytics (web or other)

•Guerilla Usability Tactics

2• Believe in a Power greater than

yourselves(and we don't mean Jakob

Nielsen)

David Verba, Adaptive Path • RWE 2007: Practical Design for Developers

CitizensPoliceCity

Homeless

PoliceCity

CitizensHomeless

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3• All this could be yoursMake a decision to recognize the

value of GOOD design.

http://mac.blorge.com

“Design is not just what it looks like

and feels like. Design is how it

works.”— Steve Jobs

4• Make a searching and

fearless inventory of your user experience

shortcomings.

Opportunity Matrix

Value

Cost Effectivness

Stick Figures 101Dave Gray, XPLANE

http://communicationnation.blogspot.com/2005/12/visual-thinking-practice-draw-stick.html

Google This!

•Scott McLoud, Understanding Comics

•Kevin Chang, Creating Conceptual Comics

•Dave Gray, XPLANE & VizThink

5• Admit to yourselves, and to

another human being, the nature of your problems.

“ The definition of insanity is doing the same thing

over and over and expecting different

results.”— Albert Einstein

Talk to your users!

6• Be entirely ready to remove these defects of

character.

Of the top 10 feature requests, 5 had been in Office

for more than a release.

7• Ask for help! It's out there.

Google This!

•Jenifer Tidwel, Designing Interfaces

•welie.com, Patterns in Interaction Design

8• Make a list of all users you've

harmed, and then make their lives

better.

Focused on

Tasks(Products, Features)

Objective/Quantifiable

Focused on

Experiences(People, Activities, Contexts)

Subjective/Qualitative

9• Made direct amends.

Make direct amends to people wherever possible, except when

to do so would injure them or others.

http://www.bumfonline.com/images/BurningBridges.jpg

10• Continue to take a personal inventory and when you are

wrong, promptly admit to it.

Iterative Practitioner

Observe

Analyze

Design

Observe Analyze Solve

Know thy UserPrototype to find possible

Solutions

Prototype to flesh out a Solution

Google This!

•Card sorting

•Affinity diagrams

•Wireframes

•Sketching (Bill Buxton, Sketching User Experiences)

•Low fidelity prototypes (paper, etc.)

•High fidelity prototypes (software)

11• Without users, it doesn’t matter.We’re building things for people.

No people = no things.

12• Pay it ForwardHaving had an awakening as a

result of these steps, try to carry the message to other developers and to practice these principles in any projects you're involved

with.

Thanks!