Presented at the May Chapter meeting of the IIBA Hartford

1. The Value and
Politics of Usability
Michael Rawlins,
President, Connecticut Usability Professionals
Presented May, 2011
IIBA Hartford Meeting

2. about me...
- Over 25 years of Fortune 100 company experience
- Institutionalized Usability practices at several companies
- President, CT Usability Professionals Association
- Adjunct Professor, Manchester Community College
- Certified Usability Analyst (CUA)

3. what’s usability?
navigation decision making

4. more definitions...
Effectiveness - can users achieve their goals
Ease of learning - how fast do they learn the interface or
system construct
Efficiency of use - how fast users complete tasks
Memorability - short & long term memory leveraged
Error prevention - is there forgiveness
User satisfaction - do users like the application

5. nothing new...

6. what’s a usability
test?

7. where’s the USB port?

8. people respond to software & hardware that is easy to use.
Cool, but not
intuitively
obvious...

9. mental models?
“Things should work the way we think
they should work...
... if you break the user’s mental model -
they respond negatively.”

13. what does a
usability lab look
like?

20. value proposition...
Every dollar invested in Usability returns $10 to $100
A proactive usability practice enables a company to:
realize better business requirements (become strategic)
establish a new value proposition (learn from the users)
reinvent your software or hardware assets
attract and retain target audiences

23. user experience...

25. People before Systems
Nate Bolt of Bolt|Peters

26. Experience before
Systems
Nate Bolt of Bolt|Peters

27. Business Logic =
Intuition
Nate Bolt of Bolt|Peters

28. some conclusions...
1. Watch five people user your web application.
2. Listen to how they approach specific tasks.
3. Think from the users point of view.

29. the science...

30. emerging trends

31. new tools...

32. detailed task analysis

37. what’s wrong?

43. what’s behind the emotions...
the designers ability to persuade (PET design)
• scarcity
• reciprocity
• authority
• likability
• commitment and consistency
• social proof

44. the politics...

45. shared space...
Is Usability a task for Sisyphus?

46. a typical day...
“We don’t have time for usability right now.”
“We don’t need you right now... maybe later.”
“The project is almost done. Can you check it out?”
We need partnership from the business and
technical stakeholder community...

47. where in the lifecycle?
Test early and often... throughout the entire
lifecycle...
Wireframe prototypes are the most cost
effective asset to test
the more unfinished looking the better
live sites and applications can be tested
test without constraints (explore the ideal)

48. what we all lose...

50. Task Completion (Productivity Increase)

51. Self-Service (Reliance on Help Desks)

52. conclusions...

53. suggested reading...

54. questions?
michael.rawlins@gmail.com

55. thank you...