EVIADA: Iterative Design & Usability Testing for Agile Software Development

1. Iterative Development & Usability Testing EVIA Digital Archive Presented by William G. Cowan and Shahrier Akram Ethnographic Video for Instruction and Analysis Digital Archive Development Team DLP Brown Bag Presentation September 26, 2007

2. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Agile Software Development: Intro • Characteristics of Agile Software Development • Light-weight methodology • Small to medium sized teams • Vague and/or changing requirements • Vague and/or changing technologies • Simple design • Minimal system into production

3. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Agile Software Development : Intro • What Agile Software Development does not do: • No complete up-front analysis • No up-front infrastructure and framework • Don’t write and maintain implementation documentation • All programmers participate in all critical activities

4. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Agile Software Development in EVIA • Why Agile Software Development for EVIA? • Shifting requirements • Changing technology decisions • Short development cycle with user review • Keep focus on high priority items • Small Development Team • Daily review of progress

5. Usability in EVIADA Agile Software Development EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing • How can we incorporate some of the standard usability techniques into EVIADA’s Agile Software Development? Sep 26, 2007

6. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Rapid Contextual Design 1. Determine the complexity of the project and the level of innovation required. Identify the 1 or 2 key customer roles this product release will support and plan customer visits. • Set project focus • Contextual Inquiry with potential customers • Build an affinity • Introduce data to the larger team • Identify issues • Build User Stories • Run the Planning Game • Design detailed User Interfaces (UIs) • Test UIs with users • Deliver to development • Continue iterations in parallel 2. Gather data from at least 3 people in each Role to produce Affinity Notes and Sequence Models of as-is tasks. 3. Build the task models showing how specific tasks are currently done that which this project will support. This is a representationof the “as-is” customer work practice. 4. Summarize key findings, then walk the teamthrough the affinity to allow the team members to comprehend the current customer environment. 5. Determine how the current issues will be addressed by the project. Brainstorm how to better support the work and develop sequencemodels 6. User stories guided by the sequence modelswill show how the system will resolve the issues 7. Organize these user stories into Iterations.Prioritize and eliminate stories as necessaryto meet resource constraints. 8. Develop lo-fi paper prototypes 9. First round test with 3 to 4 users and use the results to refine design. Time permitting,do second round of tests with the refined design. 10. Provide the User Stories and the paper prototypes UIs to the development teamfor implementation 11. The UI Design Team begins work on thenext Iteration. Turn over specs to Development team when they complete their current Iteration. Repeat steps 6 - 10 until project completion. Beyer, H., K. Holtzblatt, et al. "An Agile User-Centered Method: Rapid Contextual Design.” Available at http://www.incontextdesign.com/resource/pdf/XPUniverse2004.pdf

7. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing EVIADA Agile Usability • Pick task(s) from Use Cases Inventory • Prioritize tasks based on their critical need, anticipated frequency or commonality & complexity

8. EVIADA Agile Usability Contd. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing • Create Descriptive User Stories • Short Narrations, User Intentions & System Responsibilities, Sequence Models • Run the planning game with User Stories • Detailed UI Mockups to determine the complexity and thereby time estimate toimplement the features • Test • Lo-Fi Paper Prototype of N Iteration • Refine design • Acceptance of N - 1 Iteration • Refine design • Continue Design and Development Sep 26, 2007

9. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing EVIADA: Iteration Turnaround Challenges • Developing unique task workflows • User testing and feedbacks to validate concepts • Adopting new software technologies • Unforeseen technical roadblocks • Cross-browser Incompatibilities • Sequential design and development workflow • Resource constraints

10. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Usability Study • Participants • 2 Faculty • 1 Graduate Student • 2 General Public • Test Hi-Fi Prototype Video Playback Page (Iteration 1) • Find relevant information based on user scenarios • (In)validate currently implemented concepts • Obtain qualitative, quantitative and informal feedbacks • Demo Link • Test Lo-Fi Paper Prototype Browse Page (Iteration 2) • Find information based on user scenarios • (In)validate layout and labeling • Obtain informal feedbacks • Demo Link

11. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Iteration 1 Usability Study: Qualitative Response • Negatives • “I was not aware if there was a page explaining some basics about scene, action, event and other aspects such as basic vocabulary” • “The hierarchy of Collection, Event, Scene (& Action) wasn't spelled out very well in the interface” • Positives • “After familiarizing myself with the interface I did not feel put off or frustrated” • “LOTS of relevant information available about each segment I viewed” • “Good use of color for displaying complex data”

12. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Iteration 1 Usability Study - Quantitative Response Computer System Usability Questionnaire • Overall, I am satisfied with howeasy it is to use the system • It was simple to use the system • I can effectively complete my work using this system • I am able to complete my workquickly using this system • I am able to efficiently completemy work using this system • …. Questionnaire available at: http://hcibib.org/perlman/question.cgi

13. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Iteration 1: Pending Issues • Conveying the segment hierarchy concept • What are Collections, Events, Scenes & Actions? • Alternative Approach: Sliding Drawer Demo • Mixed reception to the Interactive Visual Timeline • Enhance level of interaction

14. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Iteration 1: Development Status • Enhanced Video Player • Full Screen Video Playback • Player Reload vs Page Reload • Improved Collection Hierarchy Representation • Cross-Browser Compatible • Graphic Design & Labeling Updates • Aesthetics • Visual Metaphors • Labels • New Features • Transcriptions • Technical Problems • Glossary References • Bibliographic References • Demo Link

15. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Upcoming Objectives: • Complete Iteration 1 - Video Playback Page • Do acceptance testing for the updates and enhancements • Include students in the next usability study, if possible • Incorporate feedback to refine design, if necessary • Iteration 2 : Browse Page • On hold • Develop Design for Iteration 3 - Search Page • Higher Priority • Lo-Fi Paper Prototype • Obtain feedback for proposed design • Incorporate feedback to refine design, if necessary

16. EVIADA : Iterative Design & Usability Testing Questions & Comments .. Thank You! sakram@indiana.edu wgcowan@indiana.edu Special Thanks to: Mark Notess & The DLP Usability Working Group