The document discusses the importance of usability in user-centered design, emphasizing the need for designs that meet users' goals and needs effectively. It outlines strategies for improving user experience through research, testing, and organizational changes, suggesting a holistic assessment of user interactions. The document stresses that successful user experience requires alignment across an organization and the role of 'change agents' to advocate for user-centered practices.

2.  Definitions,
terms,
principles
 Some
real-­‐world
examples
 Easy
things
you
can
do
today
 Questions
and
discussion
2

3. …and
those
are
the
last
bullet
points
you’ll
see
from
me!
(I
hate
bullet
points
and
sentence
fragments.)
3

4. 4
4

5. What
is
usability?
Your
intended
users
can
accomplish
what
they’re
trying
to
do
on
your
site
or
with
your
product.
Usability
has
several
components.
It
can
mean
learnable,
memorable,
efficient,
and/or
error-­‐tolerant.
5

6. How
about
this?
Usability
is…
Getting
people
to
what
they
want
or
need
as
quickly
as
possible,
in
a
way
that
assures
that
they:
Can
figure
out
what
to
do
next
Understand
why
they
should
do
it
See
how
to
do
it
(And
will
like
doing
it)
6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9

10. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. Getting
people
to
what
they
want
or
need
as
quickly
as
possible
so
they
can:
Figure
out
what
to
do
next
Understand
why
they
should
do
it
See
how
to
do
it
(And
will
like
doing
it)
13

14. What
Why
How
Like
14

15. 15
15

16. Let
me
hear
your
definitions:
16

17. I
like
this
definition:
The
fundamental
purpose
of
marketing
is
to
identify
what
people
want
and
need,
then
satisfy
those
customers.
John
Rhodes,
4
Jan
08.
http://bit.ly/BtfUF
17

18. Sound
familiar?
18

19. Marketing
SEO
Design
Usability
Identify
what
Make
it
Give
it
to
Ensure
that
they
want
findable
them
you
gave
it
to
them
19

20. 20
20

21. When
people
talk
about
“usability”,
they’re
usually
talking
about
user-­‐centered
design.
Without
a
design,
you
have
nothing
to
usability
test!
21

22. Respect
design.
And
designers.
They
help
create
the
emotional
bond
that
you’re
trying
to
build
with
your
audience.
22

23. Like
“security”
and
“accessibility”
(and
“beauty”),
usability
is
experiential
–
it’s
experienced
by
the
perceiver.
Usability
cannot
be
claimed,
it
can
only
be
established
through
demonstration.
23

24. Determine
whether
your
intended
users
can:
Figure
out
what
to
do
next
Understand
why
they
should
do
it
See
how
to
do
it
(And
will
like
doing
it)
24

25. 25
25

26. User-­‐centered
design
is
a
process
in
which
the
needs,
wants,
and
limitations
of
users
are
given
extensive
attention
at
each
stage
of
the
ideation,
define,
and
design
phases.
26

27. Two
parallel
work
streams:
Design
Wireframes
Interaction
design
Visual
design
Research
Persona
definition
Site
visits
Workflow
analysis
User
role
identification
Usability
27

28. Wireframes
Iterate
design
Iterate
design
Design
Visual
design
and
personas
and
personas
End
result:
Validated
design
Validated
user
models
“Default”
Customer
Synthesis
Research
personas
site
visits
of
customer
roles
and
workflow.
Usability
evaluation.
Time
28

29. 29

30. 30

31. Model
your
users!
Start
from
demographic
data,
if
you
have
it.
Then
interview
and
observe
some
real
users
Identify
their
typical
goals,
experiences,
needs.
31

32. It’s
not
“rocket
surgery.”
You
can
do
this!
32

33.  Define
your
users,
their
goals,
and
their
constraints.
 Design
interactions
to
meet
the
personas’
needs…
 Does
your
persona
need
lots
of
support
and
reassurance?
Hold
their
hand!
 Do
they
want
to
go
fast?
Let
‘em
tab
through
fields.
Don’t
ask
for
information
you
don’t
absolutely
need.
 Test
your
design
with
actual
users.
 Optimize
with
A/B/multivariate
testing.
33

34. OK,
I
lied
about
“no
more
bullets.”
34

35. The
job
of
research
The
job
of
design
Determine
the
target
Answer
the
visitors’
questions
users’
characteristics.
and
counter
their
objections.
Model
the
users.
State
the
offering’s
value.
Ensure
that
design
Clearly
indicate
price.
(Or
understands
and
accounts
clearly
indicate
how
to
get
to
for
the
user
characteristics.
it.)
Assess
whether
the
design
Show
them
the
path
to
addresses
the
three
W’s
uptake.
and
one
L.
35

36. An
e-­‐commerce
web
site
I’ve
worked
on…
First,
the
quick
usability
fix.
Then
we’ll
evaluate
it
live…
three
W’s
and
one
L-­‐style.
36

37. 37

38. 38

39. That
button
increased
the
percentage
of
clicks
to
the
configure
and
purchase
path
by
(low)
double
digits.
Who
knew
that
one
button
could
make
such
a
big
difference?
Well,
I
did
actually…

39

40. [Let’s
look
at
a
site
together]
40

41. Define
(business
goals,
target
users,
personas)
Validate
(assumptions
about
users)
Design
(workflow,
interactions,
layout,
visuals)
Validate
(whether
the
design
achieves
the
goals)
Implement
and
assess…and
repeat
41

42. 42
42

43. Ask
yourself
these
questions:
Have
you
defined
your
users
well?
If
not,
your
site
might
not
be
as
usable
as
you
think!
43

44. Ask
yourself
these
questions:
Are
you
clear
on
what
you
want
your
site
to
accomplish?
Believe
it
or
not,
sometimes
organizations
aren’t.
44

45. Ask
yourself
these
questions:
Have
you
tested
your…
Home
page?
Landing
pages?
Account
creation
flow?
Product
pages?
Main
conversion
flows?
45

46. Ask
yourself
these
questions:
Have
you
begun
to
A/B/multivariate
optimize?
Make
it
a
Darwinian
struggle…survival
of
the
fittest
(pages)
46

47. If
you
do
even
some
of
these
things,
you’ll
be
on
your
way
to
a
better
designed
and
more
usable
site.
And
you’ll
convert
more
visitors
(to
users,
community
members,
buyers,
reviewers,
whatever
your
goal
is).
47

48. Often,
doing
these
things
require
that
you
change
your
organization.
And
changing
organizations
is
hard!
You
need
a
strategy
and
an
implementation
plan.
And
you’re
going
to
have
to
sell
the
plan.
48

49. “[Strategy
is]
A
long
term
plan
of
action
designed
to
achieve
a
particular
goal.”
“Strategy
is
differentiated
from
tactics
or
immediate
actions
by
its
orientation
on
affecting
future,
not
immediate
conditions.”
Wikipedia.org
49

50. Driving
from
the
airport
to
the
hotel
50

51. Strategic
plan:
Go
from
airport
to
hotel
Tactics:
Make
some
turns
51

52. How
do
you
“do”
strategic
user
experience?
It
sometimes
means
big
changes.
It
often
drives
process
and
organizational
structure
changes.
52

53. Remember,
in
many
organizations,
departments
and
teams
are
incented
to
create
bad
user
experiences.
Changing
organization
structures
and
incentives
to
refocus
on
the
customer
is
hard
work.
53

54. Offline:
Nordstrom’s.
Virgin
Air.
Online:
Zappos.
Amazon.
Land’s
End.
(Offline
too.)
Who
else?
54

55. The
sad
truth:
most
organizations
don’t
align
on
the
user
experience.
55

56. Everybody’s.
And
nobody’s.
That’s
the
problem.
56

57. How
do
you
take
a
strategic
approach
to
creating
a
great
user
experience?
Four
very
hard
easy
steps…
57

58. 1.
Alignment
Find
the
disincentives
to
delivering
a
good
user
experience,
then
surface
them
to
your
leadership.
Eliminate
them.
Advocate
for
tweaking
the
business
model
if
you
need
to.
Don’t
take
“bad
profits”.
Bad
profits
are
unsustainable
profits.
58

59. 2.
Values
Be
open
to
learning
and
improving
the
user
experience.
Those
aphorisms
about
the
customer
always
being
right?
They’re
all
true.
Remember
the
guy
who
complained
about
the
food
on
Virgin
Air?
He’s
now
a
taster.
Stunt?
Yes.
But
effective
and
revealing!
59

60. 3.
Assess
the
user
experience
holistically
Walk
the
customer
corridor.
Assess
the
total
experience
–
not
just
the
user
interface.
Find
the
sticky
points,
the
little
trapdoors.
Remember,
one
bad
touchpoint
affects
the
whole
brand.
60

61. From
sign-­‐up
to
initial
use…free
to
pay
conversion…calling
and
emailing
help,
tech
support,
and
billing…even
closing
the
account.
61

62. If
you
don’t
know
about
this
concept,
talk
to
your
product
managers.
They
do.
A
typical
product
manager-­‐y
image…

62

63. 4.
Leverage
user
experience
design
Don’t
just
fix
the
little
user
experience
trapdoors
and
holes.
Assess
and
redesign
the
customer
touchpoints…
all
of
them.
63

64. Yeah,
but…
how
do
I
get
my
organization
to
do
this?
“Initiative”
64

65. Give
yourself
a
new
job:
“Change
agent”
Easy
to
say…
harder
to
put
into
practice.
65

66. A
person
who
leads
a
business
initiative
by:
 Defining
and
researching
the
problem
 Planning
the
intervention
 Building
business
support
for
the
intervention
 Enlisting
others
to
help
drive
change
Isixsigma.com
UXmatters.com
–
“The
User
Experience
Practitioner
As
Change
Agent”
66

67. “Change
agents
must
have
the
conviction
to
state
the
facts
based
on
data,
even
if
the
consequences
are
associated
with
unpleasantness.”
Isixsigma.com
Uxmatters.com
–
“The
User
Experience
Practitioner
As
Change
Agent”
67

68. Successful
strategic
user
experience
is
not
just
about
delivering
a
design
or
testing
the
site.
68

69. It’s
about
aligning
the
organization
to
measure
and
improve
the
user
experience…
Using
the
tools
and
techniques
of
user
research
and
usability
assessment.
69

70. If
you’re
doing
your
job
right,
you’re
changing
your
organization.
“Initiative”
70

71. 71

72. Connecting
Cultures,
Changing
Organizations:
The
User
Experience
Practitioner
As
Change
Agent.
Published
in
UXMatters
Magazine,
January
2007.
http://uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000162.php
Usability
For
Strategic
User
Experience.
http://www.slideshare.net/PaulSherman/usability-­‐for-­‐strategic-­‐user-­‐
experience
A
Kit
For
Building
User
Experience
Teams
In
R&D
and
Product
Management
Organizations.
http://www.slideshare.net/PaulSherman/user-­‐experience-­‐kit
72

73. Paul
Sherman
Sherman
Group
User
Experience
www.shermanux.com
paul@shermanux.com
Twitter:
@pjsherman
73