IxDA09 - Postcard Patterns

Ian Swinson Lead User Interface Designer [email_address] Postcard Patterns An Agile UI Pattern Creation Process

Safe Harbor Statement “ Safe harbor” statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This presentation may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to statements concerning the potential market for our existing service offerings and future offerings. All of our forward looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions proves incorrect, our results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements we make. The risks and uncertainties referred to above include - but are not limited to - risks associated with possible fluctuations in our operating results and cash flows, rate of growth and anticipated revenue run rate, errors, interruptions or delays in our service or our Web hosting, our new business model, our history of operating losses, the possibility that we will not remain profitable, breach of our security measures, the emerging market in which we operate, our relatively limited operating history, our ability to hire, retain and motivate our employees and manage our growth, competition, our ability to continue to release and gain customer acceptance of new and improved versions of our service, customer and partner acceptance of the AppExchange, successful customer deployment and utilization of our services, unanticipated changes in our effective tax rate, fluctuations in the number of shares outstanding, the price of such shares, foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates. Further information on these and other factors that could affect our financial results is included in the reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K and in other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. These documents are available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Information section of our website at www.salesforce.com/investor . Salesforce.com, inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Agenda

Salesforce.com – A Brief History

Patternforce 1.0 – A Cautionary Tale

Patternforce 2.0 – A New Beginning

May the force be with us!

Patternforce 3.0 – The Future

Q & A

Our Applications & Platform

51,800+ Customers

1,200,000+ Subscribers

200 Million Transactions Each Day

UE in 2004

UE in 2004 Me

UE in 2009 Almost here…

R&D in 2009

“ Houston, we have a problem…” Quality Assurance Documentation User Experience Product Management Development Customers & Partners Friends, Family & Ex’s

We need to retain consistency

We already have multiple versions

Can we choose one and move on?

Comments added to the “bad” code

New employees need to get up to speed quickly

We need insight into other teams’ solutions

A consistent, universally available location

We don’t have designers for every feature

Developers, Designers and PM’s are always asking questions

We need to minimize distractions for the Designers

Consistency Efficiency We Need a Pattern Library?

So, how do you build a Pattern Library? Apple Tidwell Yahoo! Welie Oracle

Structure of a Single Pattern

This can get complicated

Structure of a Single Pattern

This can get complicated

Scale of a Single Pattern How to make a Printable View…

Scale of a Single Pattern How to make a Printable View… This bit

Our valiant attempt…

We worked

We slept

We worked some more

We carefully rehydrated

We worked some more

We ate, we traveled, we had babies

And after a little more work we asked…

How did we do?

Oh, that’s not good

2 * patterns in

6 months

< 5 percent

*Note: They weren’t even done

Clearly, this is not going to work

What did we do wrong?

External Research Only – We looked at examples but didn’t validate them internally

Detail & Scale – We went way too deep, way too early

Scope Creep – “Oooh, and wouldn’t it be cool?!”

Incomplete Taxonomy – We didn’t have a complete idea of what we needed to document

No Prioritization – Printable View? The number one pattern in our app? Um, no.

Deaf Ears – We didn’t listen to our designers

Back to work…but with agility

The Agile Manifesto Individuals and interactions Working software Customer collaboration Responding to change over over over over processes and tools comprehensive documentation contract negotiation following a plan * Excerpted from “Subject to Change” by Adaptive Path

Agile Pattern Creation Individuals and interactions Working software Customer collaboration Responding to change We need to talk to each other, the developers, PM’s, etc. We need to work together (Pattern Blitzes)

Agile Pattern Creation Start small Go wide, get coverage across all patterns Add detail when necessary

Agile Pattern Creation Check progress regularly Share with our intended audience and make changes Listen to suggestions

Agile Pattern Creation Create something nimble – easy to create and easy to update Software changes all the time Designs change all the time

The High-Level Taxonomy Flows Pages Page Modules Pop-ups & Overlays Messages & Dialogs Widgets & Controls

Patternforce Taxonomy

We ended up with a large, but relatively flat, list.

Enter “Postcard Patterns” Dear Mom & Dad, Having a great time. Miss you both. Met a girl, getting married. Love, John The Smiths 1 Main Street Springfield, ID 64006

What Makes a Good Postcard Pattern?

Use the “Goldilocks” Principle

If the pattern doesn’t fit on a single page, consider breaking it apart or reducing the amount of detail

You can always add detail later

If the pattern doesn’t fill a single page, consider grouping it with other similar elements – e.g. common web form elements

You can always break it apart later

Rule #1: Must fit on a single 8.5” x 11” page

Pattern - Anatomy of A Pattern Title Summary Category Author & Modification Date Variations (optional) Candidacy: Redesign? Componentize? Graphics Screenshots Illustrations

Enter “Blitzes” Intense, face-to-face collaboration

The Web Site

How did we do this time?

Hey, that’s more like it!

Before

After

2 43 6 3 < 5 95 # Mo %

What did we do right?

Research First – Talk to your audience, show them examples

Complete Taxonomy – Sure, it’ll grow but we knew the scale

Time-Box – Blitzes & weekly deadlines

Validation – Weekly meetings to review progress and sign-of

Centrally Located – Everyone loved a single starting point

Ownership – You’re the author. Have a question, contact the author

Patternforce 3.0 – Ongoing Challenges

Flexibility for customers

Taxonomy – multi-faceted, multi-layered & tagged

Integrate visual design & code specs & examples

Convert from PDF to Google Docs

Show screenshots of Patternforce

Internal marketing – emails, updates, detail

Component model

Q & A

Links

Pattern Libraries

Apple

Yahoo!

Oracle

Jenifer Tidwell

Martijn Welie

Tools

FreeMind

Google Spreadsheets

Omnigraffle (OSX)

O’Reilly: Designing Interfaces Browser Look and Feel Guidelines Apple Human Interface Guidelines Welie.com Yahoo! Design Pattern Library freemind/sourceforge.net Google Docs The Omni Group - OmniGraffle

Links