Barbara Henry Jeff Preston August 16 2011 Outline The Value of the User Experience UserCentered Design Tools amp Resources Making it Stick Questions Answers Identification of key problem areas ID: 782666
Download The PPT/PDF document "It’s Cool…but does it work?" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
It’s Cool…but does it work?
Barbara Henry / Jeff Preston
August 16, 2011
Slide2Outline
The Value of the User Experience
User-Centered Design
Tools & Resources
Making it “Stick”
Questions / Answers
Slide3Identification of key problem areas
Avoidance of wasting resources to make unneeded changes
Targeting of high value/low effort fixes
All of the above
What value can a User-Centered Design process bring to application development
?
Slide4“The Requirements…”
(for the developers)
Must have wheels
Must seat at least two people
Must
be steerable
Must
go forwards and backwards
Slide5“It’s Cool…”
“…but does it work?”
Slide6Upon 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 bigger
Remove 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
Slide7With a focused approach on user-centered design, organizations can save money and resources on
Development
Maintenance
Redesign
Training
Support
While at the same time increasingSuccess ratesProductivity
User satisfaction
Job satisfaction
Value Proposition
Slide8The Basic User-Centered Design Construct
Tools & Resources
Making it “Stick”
What would you like to hear more about?
Slide9User-Centered Design
Slide10Consists 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 processElements of
User-Centered Design
Slide11User-Centered Design
User 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
Slide12User-Centered Design
Usability 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
Slide13User-Centered Design
Usability 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
Slide14User-Centered Design
Usability 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
Slide15Tools & Resources
Slide16Making it “Stick”
Things to keep in mind
Slide17Making 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?
Slide18Making 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
Slide19Making 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?)
Slide20What 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
Slide21Questions?