Ontario Libraries Association Superconference 2015. Slides by Dara Renton, Toronto Public Library and Terry Costantino, Usability Matters

1. Dara Renton
Manager, E-Services
@drenton
Terry Costantino
Principal & Design Director
@umatters
Managing Digital Projects: !
Staff, Vendors, Stakeholders
and Library Members

2. Overview
Context
Need
Plan
Design & Build
Implementation
Evaluation & Evolution
Prototype & Iterate

3. Why are we doing this
presentation?

4. Digital has redefined
all organizations

5. Bureaucracies are honed by
the past and almost never
can they deal effectively with
the future”
Dr. Leroy Hood, noted biologist

6. Digital is driven by
consumer technology

7. TPL of old
• Project based and no staff focused on
continuous enhancement and
development

8. TPL Today
• Major work still project based, but a
robust team that can work on small and
medium projects in their day-to-day
work

9. Services not projects
• What you have is a set of services delivered
digitally
• They always require maintenance and sometimes
they require a project for major changes

10. What does a digital
project look like?

11. User
experience
design
Technology
Business
Processes
Content

12. THE NEED

13. Chart the course for your project
High level goal and project drivers
Identify resources needed - identify gaps
Get approval for the project from decision-makers
Charter your approach
Identify business impacts – resourcing,
technology, service management

14. The Team
• Service Manager or
Product Owner
• Delivery Manager or
Project Manager
• Designer
• Content Designer
• User Researcher
• Technical Architect/
Lead
• Developer
• Web Ops Expert
https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/the-team

15. Context
Questions about context, the need or the team?

16. Plan
Create a shared vision for the service/product
Lay the foundation for design
Clarify the users and their needs
Get approval for the plan from decision-makers
Scope the design and build

17. Plan
Create a shared vision for the product/service
• goals & objectives
• measures of success
• requirements & constraints
Clarify users and their needs
• profiles
• personas
• tasks or scenarios
Possible activities:
• review existing documents
• consult with staff & users
• review competitor/peer offerings

18. Dawn, Family Hub
I want one stop for my
family’s needs
Dawn is a 34-year-old mom of two young children and an avid
mystery reader. She works part-time for a friend’s catering
business and spends a lot of time chauffeuring her children to
activities, so her time is limited. She needs to get in and get on
with it, so she likes to research new offerings and events at the
library on the website ahead of time and place holds on materials
she might pick up later on her weekly visit with the kids.
She has a library card and has signed her kids up too because she
wants to teach them to be library users.
• No time – she can’t spend a lot of time
tracking down what she wants
• Isn’t aware of the full breadth of what
the library system has to offer, but
knows a lot about family resources
and events in her branch
• Usually has kids with her when she
visits the library, is distracted
Challenges
Access profile
• Get the latest from her favourite
authors and recommendations for
similar books
• Let the kids pick out books to borrow.
• Find out about resources and events
for kids
• Find what she needs quickly because
she is always on the run
• Check family’s account information
online (due dates, fines, etc.)

19. I want one stop for my
family’s needs
I want to find the latest book by my favourite
author
I want recommendations for new titles
related to my preferences
I’d like to know about events for my kids
during March break.
I want to find the next book in a series
I’d like to find people to socialize with that
share my interests
I’d like to know about events in my
neighbourhood that are targeted at kids
I want to know about new service offerings
and how to use them (downloadable books
or music)
I want to set up holds and research new
materials online for my entire family before I
stop by
I want to check my family’s account details
(due dates, fines) online
branch across town and want to know about
parking there
• Access to online recommendations, updates and holds so she can get
organized for her next visit
• Needs current information and new offerings brought to her attention
so she doesn’t have to seek them out
• Might be interested in alerts based on her preferences (opt-in)
• Wants to easily manage her children’s (and sometimes husband’s)
accounts
• Managing her children’s library use needs to be convenient (e.g. dealing
with misplaced books, fines, uncatalogued items)
Critical requirements
Dawn, Family Hub
Example scenarios:

20. Plan
Lay the foundation for design
• user stories and/or journey maps
• service blueprint
• content and functionality list
• technical requirements
• organizational impacts
Get approval for the plan from decision-makers
Scope the design and build
• estimate the time and cost
• consider buy, build and partner options
• adjust the plan as needed

23. Plan
Questions about planning?

24. Design & Build
User experience (UX) design
Visual design
Technical design
Business process design
Content design
Get approval from decision-makers
Prototype development

25. Design & Build
• Refine journey maps
• Create information architecture (IA)
• Create wireframes and user flows, if needed
• Contribute to IA and labelling
• Identify content needs, style, and sources
Content Design
UX Design

27. Design & Build
Visual Design
• Set creative direction
• Create graphic standards - colours,
typography, iconography, etc.
Prototype Development
• Create HTML prototype/build

30. Design & Build
Technical Design
Business Process Design
• Identify current business processes affected
by the new or redesigned service
• Work with appropriate stakeholders to adjust
the business processes and/or the design
• Map technical approach

31. Design & Build
Questions about designing and building?

32. Prototype & Iterate
• Develop and iterate working prototype
• Invited library members to:
• join web advisory panel
• comment on blog posts
• participate in usability test sessions
• UX, content, visual, business processes also iterate
during this phase

35. Prototype & Iterate
Questions about prototyping or usability testing?

36. Implementation
• Setting up where site/services will be
hosted
• Hooking up systems
• Testing (functional, QA, performance,
regression testing, failover, security etc.)
• Planning a beta launch.

37. Evaluation and Evolution
• post-mortem - what worked, what didn’t, what
would you do differently
• metrics
• on-going feedback from users and stakeholders

39. References
• gov.uk Service Design Manual
https://www.gov.uk/service-manual
• Hemingway App
http://www.hemingwayapp.com/
• Webaim colour contrast Checker
http://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
• TPL’s Digital Library Service Blog
http://tpl.ca/webteam
• Digital Adaptation - Paul Boag
http://www.digital-adaptation.com/
• Practical Guide to Managing Web Projects - Breandán Knowlton
http://www.fivesimplesteps.com/products/a-practical-guide-to-managing-web-projects

40. Contact info
Dara Renton !
Manager, E-Services
Toronto Public Library
Twitter: @drenton!
drenton@torontopubliclibrary.ca
Terry Costantino !
Principal & Design Director
Usability Matters
Twitter: @umatters!
terry@usabilitymatters.com