Usability_Success_Stories_Intro frag.pdf

Usability Success

Stories

How Organizations Improve by

Making Easier-to-Use Sotware

and Web Sites

paul sherman

Chapter 1

An Introduction to Usability

and User-Centred Design

Paul Sherman

Haveyoueverstruggledtoigureouttheremoteforyournewtelevisionor

cablebox?Doyouotenindyourselfcursingattheairline’svoicerecognition

systemwhenyoucalltomakealightreservation?Haveyoueverbecomeso

frustratedwithacomputerapplication,websiteorhandhelddevicethatyou

feltyourbloodpressurerisingandyourhandsballingintoists?

Ustoo.That’swhywewrotethisbook.

There’sanentireprofession–wecallourselvesusabilityengineers,user

experiencedesigners,interactiondesigners,user-centreddesignpractitioners

andsoon–thatstrivestoeliminatethesedailymomentsoffrustration.Oten

itfeelslikeanuphillbatle.Newtechnologyisotenfunandinteresting.It

sometimesdelightsusunexpectedlybysolvingsomeoflife’slitleproblems.

But the downside of new technology is that it’s oten designed by

technologists.Theyregardnewgadgetsanddevicesaschallengestobemastered

–andtheirdesignsrelectthismindset.Incontrast,ordinarypeopleotensee

newtechnologyasaspeedbumponthepathofdailylife.Onemorethingto

devotescarcetimeandatentionto.Totheordinaryperson,newtechnology

canbepowerfulyetdiiculttograsp;comprehensiveandincomprehensible;

robustyetobscure.

Becausethetechnologistsbringsuchwondrousthingsintoexistence,

sometimeswithnothingmorethanmysteriouslinesofsymbolsandnumbers,

organisationstendtoletthemexercisecontroloverhowordinarypeopleshould

interactwiththeircreations.

Butthetechnologistsdon’tthinklikeordinarypeople.Eveniftheydid,

theveryfactthattheyaresoclosetothedetailsoftheircreationscausestheir

understandingofthemtodiferradicallyfromanyoneelse’sunderstanding.

usability success stories

Remember,the‘ordinaryperson’we’retalkingaboutisyourgrandmother,

yourelectrician,theschoolstudentatthesupermarketcheckout.Mostpeople

havethe capacity toeventuallyunderstandapieceoftechnologyatacomparable

levelofdetail.Buttheydon’thavethe time tolearnthetechnology,muchless

themotivation.They’rebusywithotherthings.

Yet,timeatertime,organisationsbringtomarketproductsthatrelectthe

technologist’swayofthinking.Thesearethedevices,websitesandapplications

thatraiseourbloodpressure.

Themembersofourprofessionaredevotedtothenever-endingtaskof

minimisingoreliminatingthesemismatchesbetweentechnology’sdesigners

anditsusers.Otenourefortsfallshort.It’s hard toshakethestatusquoin

organisationsthataresofocusedontechnologicalinnovation.

However,ourprofessionincreasinglygainstraction.Welearnhowto

inluencetheproductmanagerswhoguidethecreationofnewtechnologies,

thetechnologistswhocreatethem,theprojectmanagerswhoowntheschedules

andtheexecutiveswhosedecisionsafectthedozens–sometimeshundreds

–ofpeoplewhocontributetothecreationofnewtechnologies.

Thisbookisaplacewhereyou’lllearnnotonlywhatcontributorsinourield

do,butalsohowseveralofushaveefectivelyinluencedourorganisationsand

gotthemtoincorporateusersintoproductdesignanddevelopmentprocesses.

You’llhearhowwe’veconvinceddecision-makersinourorganisationsthat

listeningto,watchingandinteractingwithordinarypeopleastheyatempt

touseourcreationsincreasesacceptanceofnewtechnologiesandhelpsthe

organisationachieveitsinancialgoals.

Why Write about successes?

Peoplespendincreasingamountsoftimeandefortinteractingwithcomplex

hardwareandsotwareproducts.Inthefuturemore,notless,technologywill

beintroducedintoourworkandpersonalroutines.

Someoftheapplicationsandproductsweinteractwith–suchasairline

check-inkiosksandATMs–areeasytolearnandeasytoremember.Some

areevenapleasuretouse(thinkApple’siPod,orvirtuallyallofGoogle’s

oferings).

usability and user - centred design

Othersarehardtolearnandhardtouse,andingeneralfrustrateusat

almosteveryturn.Whenweencountertheseproducts,wesaytheyarenot

user-friendly , orthattheyarenotvery usable. Anotherwayofsayingitisthat

theseproductspossesslow(orpoor) usability .

Whiletherearenearlyasmanydeinitionsofusabilityasthereareusability

practitioners,aconcisedeinitioncanbefoundintheISOstandards(ISO9241–

11,1998).Thestandardsbodydeinesusabilityastheefectiveness,eiciency

andsatisfactionwithwhichaspeciicsetofuserscancompleteaspeciicsetof

tasksinaparticularenvironment(ShermanandQuesenbery,2005).

Hopefully,younoticedthefocuson the user inthatdeinition.Thisisno

accident.Usabilityisallabout people ,notproducts.Thereisno‘objective’

measureofusabilitythatcanbeappliedtoanygivendeviceorapplication.The

botomlineisthis:iftheintendeduserscanusetheproducttoaccomplishtheir

goals,thentheproductisusable.Iftheycan’t(orcan’treadily)usetheproduct

toaccomplishtheirgoals,thenit’snotreallyusable.

Inourpersonallives,productswithpoorusabilitycostustimeandenergy.

Howmanytimeshaveyoupushedadoorhandleinsteadofpulled,pressed

‘Cancel’insteadof‘OK’,orsatseethinginfrontofyourcomputermonitor,

unabletoigureouthowtopurchaseanitemfromanonlineretailer?

Intheworkarena,organisationsalsoincurcostswhenpeoplechooseto(or

aretoldto)useaproductwithpoorusability.Businesseslosemoneybecause

frustratedcustomersleave(Kehoe,Pitkow,Suton,AggarwalandRogers,

1999).Productivityandevenemployeesatisfactiondecreasewhenemployees

usesotwareapplicationswithpoorusability(Macleod,Bowden,Bevan,and

Curson,1997;Rehman,2000).

Whetheraproductisusedatworkorathome,poorusabilityimposes

signiicantcostsontheproduceroftheproductaswell.Companiesthatmake

hard-to-useproductsincurhighersupportcosts,spendmoretimeandmoney

onreworkandtendtohaveless-satisiedcustomers(BiasandMayhew,1994;

Wiklund,1994).

Theseoutcomescanbemitigated–andotenavoidedentirely–byapplying

auser-centreddesignprocessandusabilityengineeringtechniquesduring

productdevelopment.

usability success stories

Thedisciplineofuser-centreddesignincludesasetoftechniquesthathelp

developmentteamsaccuratelygatherandassesstargetusers’characteristics,

goalsandmotivations,aswellastheirworklow,painpointsandcritical

behaviours.User-centreddesignandusabilityprofessionalsdothingssuchas:

•

watchpeopleastheyperformtasksandactivitiesthatproductor

serviceproviderswouldliketoassist,expediteorautomate;

•

discover people’s skills, goals, motivations, frustrations and

successesastheywork(orplay,orinteract,etc.);

•

createdesignsthatassist,expediteorautomate,withatentionto

theintendedusers’skills,goals,etc.;

•

testthesedesignsbyhaving people from the intended user group atempt

toperformthetasksandactivitiessupportedbytheproduct;

•

revisethedesignasnecessary,onthebasisoftheresultsofthetest

sessions.

Armedwiththisknowledge,user-centreddesignpractitionersareableto

designfeaturesandinteractionsthatmeettheneedsoftheintendedusers.

Performingtheseactivitiescostsbothtimeandmoneytotheorganisation,

butthecostsofusabilityengineeringareusuallyoutweighedbythebeneits.In

somecasesthebeneitsdramaticallyoutweighthecosts,yieldingsurprisingly

large economic rewards for organisations. Studies have been published

documentingatenfoldreturn,andmore,oninvestmentforusabilityengineering

activities(BiasandMayhew,1994;seealsoLund,1997).

Despitetheevidenceforapositivereturnoninvestmentforusability

engineeringactivities,manyorganisationsviewusabilityengineeringasa

‘nicetohave’,anon-criticalpartoftheproductdevelopmentprocess.When

timesgettough,organisationsroutinelyjetisontheiruser-centreddesigners

andusabilityengineers,ifnotduringtheirstroundoflay-ofsthenusuallyby

thesecondorthird.

It’sapparentthatthemessagedoesn’talwaysgetthrough.Inmanycases

the‘business’(shorthandfortheportionoftheorganisationthatdecideswhat

tobuild)and‘development’(thepeoplewhoactuallybuildwhatthebusiness

wantstobuild)donotrecognisethatdollarsspentonuser-centreddesignare

dollarsincrediblywellspent.

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