User Centered Design 101

Slide 2: About Your Speaker • Frank Spillers • Masters Cognitive Science • 10 years User Centered Design experience • Founder, Experience Dynamics- leading Usability Design Research firm 2 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 3: Agenda Is User Centered Design a buzzword, a technique, or a methodology? Why does "UCD" get so much attention? How has it changed how teams approach web application usability efforts? Is UCD right for you? 1.User Centered Design: Evolving from Dot-Com to Web 2.0 2.Why UCD? (Development, Business, Design benefits) 3.Development process: UCD vs. Agile vs. Waterfall 4.Case Studies: User Centered Design success stories 5.Is UCD right for you?: Planning a UCD process for your product 6.Q & A 3 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 5: User Centered Design Grounding Using user requirements and advocacy as a design decision means to product making in observed development… behavioral data. For Websites, portals, Intranets. For end-to-end Software, Web experiences. applications. Embedded or mobile devices, hardware products. 5 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 6: Timeline* A lot of good post-dot com guessing…and heavy sprinkles of usability and UCD… 1997 2007 2001 2004 UCD methodology has influenced every aspect of Web design and development in the past 6 years. *Note: This timeline is incomplete and is for illustrative purposes only. Sorry if we left you off! 6 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 8: 6 Basic Get to know the users • Analyze user tasks and goals • Steps Establish usability requirements • Prototype some design ideas • in a UCD Usability test the concepts • process Repeat as necessary • 8 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 9: Let’s make a distinction • Usability is not UCD • Usability is a result, a goal, a field (UE, UX) • UCD is a methodology • Usability is an outcome of UCD practices 9 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 10: International Standards Org 1. ISO 9241-11 (1998) defines usability as an outcome “The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use.” 2. ISO 13407 (1999) defines HCD as an approach Human centred design processes for interactive systems “Human-centred design is an approach to interactive system development that focuses specifically on making systems usable. It is a multi-disciplinary activity…” 10 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 11: “Is it possible to win with just usability?” Yes, I think so…but Enterprise level organizations need a framework to manage UCD and adhere to the practice of user involvement a la behavioral research… Otherwise techniques get shelved, filed away or move on (with bright stars). 11 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 12: Why does UCD often look diluted, dated, misplaced or weak? Different reasons: •Usability consultants or Centers of Excellence like to extend, expand and redefine •It is used for different purposes: marketing; PR; promotional reasons •Different backgrounds; different disciplines come to UCD practice •Not all steps are or can be followed •UCD follows organizational buy-in to usability 12 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 14: Approaches to Design Technology driven User Centered Design driven • • Component focus Solutions focus • • System driven (use cases) (real-world) Scenario driven • • Product defect view of quality Task success view of quality • • Focus on system robustness Focus on User Interface robustness 14 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 15: Business case for usability • Reduce development costs • Reduce support costs • Reduce documentation time • Reduce maintenance costs • Increase user satisfaction • Increase user loyalty • Increase user adoption 15 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 16: Web 2.0 case for…(your case here) • More compelling user experience • Faster application development • Usability fixes more elegant • More flexibility • Better control of presentation layer (UI) 16 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 18: Development methods: Waterfall: Agile: UCD: -3-6 month + releases -”XP” Extreme -”Guerilla HCI” Programming -Requirements definition up -User testing often front -Reduce the cost of -Iterative by nature change -Sequential process -Rapid (UI) design -30 day releases -Used heavily pre-Web prototyping -Include user -Delay testing to end involvement -User test anytime -Test as you go along 18 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 19: “Fitting usability in” to Agile • Move UCD deliverables to a quarterly management cycle • New features and functionality gained from field study and usability tests should be reviewed and prioritized at every new monthly build review meeting Covered in more detail in Usability 102, March 21st 2007 19 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 20: Issues with Agile • Agile competes with UCD activities (time and attention) • Close partnerships are required • UCD team needs to debrief and ‘bug-squash’ features • Usability findings should be cascaded into Agile review cycles 20 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 21: Agile and UCD • Field Studies= Quarterly usability priority (feed to Agile dev process) • Usability Testing= Monthly usability priority (depending on what needs tested, might be small, incremental) • Usability Reviews= Can feed into the more narrow "inside a month" cycles. Covered in more detail in Usability 102, March 21st 2007 21 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 26: User Objectives • Parent • Support interruptions • Teen/Child • Don’t make me feel stupid • Grandparent • Reduce fear of technology • Friend • Quick, Effective, Productive • Shopper... 26 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 27: User Attributes • E-mail is a prime motivator • Surfing the web, too • Familiar with appliances • Are fearful of complex technology – They don’t want to feel stupid – But don’t want to be left behind 27 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 32: Distinction • UCD takes on many interpretations- folklores • Usability efforts are stifled by many factors • Managers who don’t “get it” • IA’s or UX folks who think they “get it” but don’t (or don’t get it enough to convince their boss) 32 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 34: Preparing your organization • Usability testing is a good start – Expert reviews are politically limited – Field studies are easily misinterpreted • Once established, Persona Research is vital – Ethnography should be embraced – Developing personas is valuable Covered in more detail in Usability 102, March 21st 2007 34 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 35: Building momentum… *• Usability Education • User Research based design * • Credibility (business team buy in) * • Integration (development process) • Best practice capture * • Leadership (and budget) • Expertise 35 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 39: Be sure to catch UCD 102 on March 21st 2007 ($125 charge) 2. Managing with User Centered Design checklist 3. Incorporating UCD into your product lifecycle: How UCD fits with Agile 4. Components of UCD Techniques: When to use and NOT to use User Centered Design 5. Guidance and Advice: how you can learn from best practice 6. Insider tips for promoting UCD at the team and management level 7. Q&A thank you! 1-800-978-9183 www.experiencedynamics.com Frank Spillers, MS Frank.Spillers@experiencedynamics.com 39 All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

Slide 40: About Experience Dynamics: Experience Dynamics is a professional usability design research firm. Through its User Centered Design services, Experience Dynamics assists organizations with removing the frustration and confusion that plagues most website and software development projects. Companies benefiting from Experience Dynamics actionable usability recommendations include AutoNation, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Verizon, Microsoft, Four Seasons, Washington Mutual, Bank One, Target, Land Rover, Providence Health System and KeyBank. About Experience Dynamics web seminars: Experience Dynamics offers a recurring set of usability web seminars on hot usability topics. The web seminars provide an overview and quick review of key issues and opportunities related to best practices in usability research. The seminars are presented by Frank Spillers, MS, a recognized expert in the field of usability engineering and user experience design. Experience Dynamics seminars are complimentary and are attended by companies including Intel, Citigroup, KeyBank, The Hartford, Fujitsu, Intuit, EMC Corp, Chase, US Bank, Apple, Amazon.com, Business Objects, Mentor Graphics, GM, Toyota and others. All contents © Copyright 2007 Experience Dynamics

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