It’s Cool…but does it work?

1. It’s Cool…but does it work? Barbara Henry / Jeff Preston August 16, 2011

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

3. What value can a User-Centered Design process bring to application development? • Identification of key problem areas • Avoidance of wasting resources to make unneeded changes • Targeting of high value/low effort fixes • All of the above

4. “The Requirements…”(for the developers) • Must have wheels • Must seat at least two people • Must be steerable • Must go forwards and backwards

5. “It’s Cool…” “…but does it work?”

6. 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? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Paint it black Simplify gauges Make it smaller iPad-based user manual Larger cabin Make it bigger Remove 2 wheels 2 week training course Hmm… None of these 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

7. Value Proposition With a focused approach on user-centered design, organizations can save money and resources on • Development • Maintenance • Redesign • Training • Support While at the same time increasing • Success rates • Productivity • User satisfaction • Job satisfaction

8. What would you like to hear more about? • The Basic User-Centered Design Construct • Tools & Resources • Making it “Stick”

9. User-Centered Design

10. Elements ofUser-Centered Design Consists of three elements: • User Research • Know your audience, their behaviors, goals, intentions • Usability Testing • Conduct empirical data gathering with real users – in real scenarios – using real models • Usability Framework • Build-out and test within the framework of an iterative process

11. User-Centered DesignUser Research User Research Profiles: Profiles will describe the varying characteristics of individual users within a single user group • Summarizes commonalities • Anonymous – except by roles or common tasks User Research Personas: A persona is a concrete “characterization” of a single user group • It is not an actual person – it’s a fictitious person that represents the information collected from user groups or communities • It represents a high-value group – such as stakeholders or customers • It explains the probabilities of that group – not the possibilities

12. User-Centered DesignUsability Testing Usability Testing Definition: • The process of having existing or potential users experience your site, software, or product • It is a performance-based evaluation • It is an ongoing process – not a one-shot evaluation • It is key in maintaining efficiencies in rapidly changing environments Usability Testing Purpose: • To provide feedback based on what the user “does”… • Via specific tasks and objectives… • Using your site, software, or product… • So that improvements, efficiencies, & corrections can be made It is not hypothesis driven, it is activity driven

13. User-Centered DesignUsability Framework Usability for Development Lifecycles • Usability testing is possible at most all points within the development cycle UT UT UT UT UT UT UT Requirements Gathering Design Prototype Development Functional Testing Testing Deploy

14. 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

15. Tools & Resources

16. Making it “Stick”Things to keep in mind

17. Making it “Stick”Be aware of possible objections to a User-Centered Design approach • “It might uncover a showstopper” • If there is something wrong with your product, you will want to discover it before your customers/stakeholders • “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” • “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?

18. Making it “Stick”Be aware of possible objections to a User-Centered Design approach • “We are too early in the process – we do not have everything thought out” • There is no better time to incorporate UCD • “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 • “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

19. 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 youread the user manual?)

20. What is most important in successful usability studies? • High-tech audio/visual equipment • Objective, relevant users • Defined stakeholder goals and expectations • The process • The timing • The follow-up • All of the above

21. Questions?