Management & Technology
Ain’t no backseat driver!
A tale about user-centred design, storyboards and prototyping
Matthew H d
M tth Hodgson
ACT Regional-lead, Web and Information Management
SMS Management & Technology
3 June 2008

Systems for experts
Systems for experts
“It’s time we face reality, my friends …
We’re not exactly rocket scientists”

What about systems for these people?
What about systems for these people?

Web 2.0 designed systems for normal people
Web 2.0 designed‐systems for ‘normal’ people

Systems ‘we’ build
Systems we build
As envisaged by the
A i db h As specified in the As designed by the
Business Owner requirements Senior Analyst
As produced by As finally What the User
the Developers implemented actually needed

Our projects and processes …
Our projects and processes …

… squeeze out the design phase
… squeeze out the design phase

Leaving users til last has a high cost
Leaving users til last has a high cost

How can we capture the intent of the system?
How can we capture the intent of the system?

User‐centred design!
User centred design!

User‐centred design
User centred design
Engages users:
• From the beginning to the end of a project
Understands:
• How users want to use the system
• How users think about their work
Identifies:
• Needs and wants
• Interaction preferences

ISO:13407 Human‐centred design
processes for interactive systems
f

User‐centred design frameworks
User centred design frameworks
Source: Jessee James Garrett: www.jjg.net/ia

How do we ‘do’ user‐centred design?
How do we do user centred design?
…a look at how other disciplines
a
employ this philosophy
philosophy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3mAHQuBqQI

Storyboarding
Movie Directors use storyboarding to:
Plan the movie as early as possible
•
Put themselves into the shoes of the audience
•
Make the movie better for the audience
•
Conceive of the movie early
•
Id tif flaws iin th plot
Identify fl the l t
•
Work out difficult concepts
•
Save time and money
•

Using storyboarding in our projects
Using storyboarding in our projects
Helps us understand:
• User’s wants and needs
• User-interaction preferences
Clarify:
y
• Business processes
Identify:
• Flaws in business & system logic
• Points for system support

Storyboarding @ IA Summit 08, Miami
Storyboarding @ IA Summit 08, Miami

Storyboards with process maps, use‐cases and
requirements
i
storyboards
use case reference
user experience
business process
user-profiles
(actors)
system objects
requirements lists

Storyboarding (cont.)
Storyboarding (cont.)
Benefits:
• Light-weight – use at a minutes notice
• Low cost – just grab pen & paper
• User buy-in for change management
buy in
• Gets users involved
• S users’ expectations
Sets
• Increases users’ understanding of the system
users
Disadvantages:
Di d t
• Need to be able draw to convey the concept ☺

Other tools for user centred design?
Other tools for user‐centred design?
‘Previz’ - prototyping the solution
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMgoIwA_oQM

What does prototyping systems involve?
What does prototyping systems involve?
Emphasise:
• User involvement – they’re the ones going to use
the system!
Improve:
• Design concepts in rapid iterations
Refine:
R fi
• User interactions (UXD)
• Information design
• N i ti modell
Navigation d

Evolution through iteration with users
Evolution through iteration with users

Why use prototyping?
Why use prototyping?
Benefits
• E l design solution
Evolve d i l ti
• Involves users – sets expectations, increases understanding
• Conceptual or detailed
• Communicate intent of system to developers
• Find problems in system interactions early
• Solve information architecture problems early
• Cheaper than building the system
Disadvantages
g ( )
• Need good software – Axure (www.axure.com)
• It’s more than just screens! – need an IA to help with the tricky
bits

‘Conceptual’ design in project methodology
Conceptual design in project methodology

Case study:
User‐centred design in action!

Case study
Case study
Client:
• Large government agency
• Business critical system redevelopment
Business-critical
• Included business process improvement
Problem:
• Silos’ expectations to manage
• No documented processes
• “I don’t know what I want, but I’ll know it when I see it”
• Vendor suffered from ‘the dreaded analysis spiral’!

The dreaded analysis spiral
The dreaded analysis spiral

New
Information
Understand Users Storyboard
Analysis
Wants & Needs possibilities
Prototype
interactions
Design
Refine
& Document
concepts
solution
Solution
• Adopt a user centred
user-centred
design approach
• Reinforce role clarity
Build

Understand your users thru Personas
Understand your users thru Personas

Storyboard possibilities
Storyboard possibilities

Prototype users system interactions
Prototype users’ system interactions

Outcomes
Increased user-acceptance of change:
• Created a single vision of what we were doing
• Helped managed expectations
• Wider understanding of everyone’s needs
Better system adoption:
y p
• User-involvement meant system was ‘designed’ for them to
use
Saved ti
S d time:
• Kept us on-track and the vendor less distracted
p
• Worked through difficult concepts before development

Conclusions

User‐centred design
User centred design
Benefits:
• Improved vision – we can all see up front where we’re going
•IImproved change management capability
dh t bilit
• Visible iterations – no hidden end-game solution
• Best-practice agile environment methodology
Disadvantages:
More up-front analysis required
•
Role definition – requires good communication
•
Power-shift to front-end of project
•
Some d l
S developers d ’t lik b i llast
don’t like being t
•

The goal
The goal
As envisaged by As specified in the As designed by
the business project request the senior
owner analyst
THE SWEET SPOT
As produced by
What the user
What the user
As finally
As finally
the programmers
actually needed
implemented

Management & Technology
Fin
Questions?
Q

Management & Technology
Ain t no backseat driver!
Ain’t no backseat driver!
A tale about user-centred design,
g,
storyboards and prototyping

Management & Technology
Matthew Hodgson
ACT Regional-lead, Web and Information Management
SMS Management & Technology
Blog: magia3e.wordpress.com
Twitter: magia3e
Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/magia3e
Email: mhodgson@smsmt.com
g@
Mobile: 0404 006695