This document discusses designing software for people rather than features. It emphasizes understanding users' problems, accepting limitations, and embracing qualitative research methods like surveys and usability testing to understand user needs and assumptions. The goal is to design flexible software that helps solve users' real problems and encourages productive behaviors from the first interaction.

1. Designing
for
People
Cindy Alvarez
Director of UX,
Yammer

2. “If only this software
had more features.”
- no one, ever

3. Most enterprise software
is designed for

4. Yammer
is designed for

5. What if you had to win over
people
one
at a time?

6. Before you do
anything, you’d ask
“why?”

7. (all of these users
have the same problem.)

8. Think of flexibility as a
tax that you’re
charging people.

9. No one is happy with
email
settings on the first try.
(or often, ever.)

10. Accept that you’re
competing with a
million other things.

12. Imagine a world
without corporate
training.

13. a-ha!

14. It’s not about
usability testing.

15. SurveyMonkey
Customer
Qualaroo Development
Usaura

16. Embrace the
“touchy-feely”.

17. http://pinterest.com/Yammer/yammer-customer-love/

18. See your assumptions
proven wrong
(and course-correct).

19. “ it won’t do much to encourage welcoming
behaviors…
…people can't control it, so they might be
New
frustrated by that … I see many downsides
and I'm not clear on the value prop in the
first place.
”
- Customer and Power User
• new user retention up
• new user posting rates up

20. QUESTIONS?
LEAVE HERE TODAY AND ASK “WHY?”
@cindyalvarez & @yammerUX