Sometimes, they just don’t get it. We’re just trying to do the right thing here. Isn’t our success dependent on our users being able to shop, buy, apply or contact us through our web site or app? So if we’re dependent on our users, shouldn’t we at least involve them somehow in the design process? Not so easy. For some of “those” people, design is easy. Don’t we already know what the problem is and what design we can use to fix it? Can’t we just leverage best practices? Why do we even need to test the design if we’re experts? No one ever says these things, right? In the real world, user-centered design and usability is ironically, not that easy to adapt. It’s counterintuitive because it’s such hard work to make things easy. What we have to do is to make what we do easy to understand and easy to choose. This session may not change your reality, but by sharing in some lessons learned, hopefully you’ll have the tools to help change some minds.

1. The Usability
of Usability
A ND R E W CHA K
F E B R UA R Y 20 1 4

2. About Me
• 19 years spanning
visual design, front
end
coding, information
architecture, usability
research, and digital
strategy
• AVP, Digital Customer
Experience at TD
• Klick
Health, OnX, Immersa
nt
• Connect with me on
LinkedIn if you’re
interested in a contract
UX position
• I’m an avid runner and
overshare about it on
Twitter @andrewchak

3. Why are we here?

4. Why are we here?

5. About today
I share
You share

6. Pick a partner…
“Hi there… I’m…”
“What’s the best thing that has
happened to you recently?”

7. Now pick a role…
Tappers
Listeners
Keep eyes open
Read instructions
Get a pen & paper
Close your eyes

8. The Mystery Song
“Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”

9. Instructions
Tappers
When
prompted, start
tapping
the song
Listeners
Write down song
names until you
are correct

10. So… how was that?

11. The Problem
We know everything,
they don’t

12. What we do
Our job is to do the hard
work to make something
so easy that people don’t
even notice

13. In other words…
It’s hard to be easy
but most people
don’t know that

14. Great designs are
deceptively easy

15. Great designs are
deceptively easy
•
•
•
•
•
Weather
Stock Quotes
Time
Sport Scores
Sunrise & Sunset
•
•
•
•
•
Calculator
Book Search
Earthquakes
Unit Conversion
Synonym Search
•
•
•
•
•
Local Search
Movie Showtimes
Flight Tracking
Poison Control
Currency Conversion

16. When it comes to our work…
• It’s like we get
challenged with the
same questions over
and over and over
again…

17. So…
What are the recurring
issues you encounter
about our practice
over and over again?

18. For me, there are 5…

19. #1
Defining solutions
before problems

20. Bertrand Russell
“The greatest challenge to
any thinker is stating the
problem in a way that
will allow a solution.”

21. Ever get requirements like this?
“We just need to
add this button”

22. Ever get requirements like this?
“We just need
to improve the
functionality”

23. Ever get requirements like this?
“We just need
to redesign it”

24. “Delivers hot and cold water”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2508045324/

25. “Delivers water at a desired
temperature”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vimages/2302862517/

26. “Help to wash hands clean”
http://www.us.kohler.com/

27. The most important question
you can ask is…
“Why?”

28. How to have great problems
• Identify your users
unmet needs through
customer journies – low
points, break points
• Diary studies conducted
over time
• Summative usability test
of existing experience
• Base problems on direct
observation or feedback
• Don’t take users
feedback at face value –
ask the “why?” behind
their feedback too
• Define problems based
on desired customer
behaviours or responses
• The right problem
statement = innovation

29. So…
What are your
examples of “poor”
requirements and
how did you deal with it?

30. #2
Everyone’s a user so
everyone’s a designer

31. A rhetorical question
“Why is that when people
watch a movie, they don’t
necessarily think they can be
a director, but when they use
a web site, they think they
can be a designer?”

32. Who we often design for
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markjsebastian/290368272/

33. Our self-image isn’t
often accurate
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oter/3104958433/

34. The compromise:
Design for everybody
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/613445810/

35. What do you get when you
design for everybody?
32 flavours of vanilla

36. The Paradox: Designing for a specific
somebody is much better than a
generic anybody
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24143601@N08/3205140655/

37. Designing for a specific, more
“difficult” user
• The user that isn’t motivated
• The user that doesn’t know much
• The user that is a newbie
• Designing for someone specific & more “difficult”:
• Makes design decisions easier – gives us the courage to
make tradeoffs
• Hones us in on creating a robust solution

38. So…
Any examples of “extra”
designers in your work?

39. #3
Thinking that the little
design details are
simply “cosmetic”

40. Sabre Reservation System
From: LGA
To:
DTW
Search
50%+ selected first result
92% selected in first screen
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system)

41. Sabre Reservation System
From: LGA
To:
DTW
Search
• In 1981, New York Air added a flight
from La Guardia to Detroit which
competed with AA
• 8 flights / day
• Guess where they put the New York Air
flight search results?
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre_(computer_system)

42. How do you increase return
completion rates?

43. How do you increase return
completion rates?

44. Every little thing matters in
context
• Some things that worked well for certain products
didn’t work at all for others
• Sometimes it’s better to have more clicks – there is
no such thing as a 3-click rule
• Be suspicious of “best practices”
• The only correct answer is “it depends”

45. So…
What are some of your
learnings on the “little
things” that have made a
big difference?

46. #4
Lack of time, money,
or desire to do
user research

47. A common usability
testing question
“Isn’t it the same thing as
a focus group?”

48. Do you wash your hands every time
you use a public bathroom?
96%
88%
89%
66%
Claimed
Observed
Women
Claimed
Observed
Men
Source: Harris Interactive – Hand Washing Survey, 2007

49. Analogies for explaining
usability testing
• The Hockey Team
• Imagine assembling a
new team of hockey
players
• Each player is like an
element of the
experience
• You would want to have
them practice against
other teams to see how
they work together and
identify strengths and
weaknesses
• The Flight Simulator
• Suppose you had a
student pilot
• Would you allow that
student to fly a jumbo jet
before at least trying it
out in a simulator?
• Wouldn’t testing in a
simulator be much more
cheaper than making a
mistake in the real thing?

50. Remember what we did in the
beginning?
“Twinkle, Twinkle Little
Star”
We can’t “undo” our
knowledge

51. “Your first usability test”
• The intent of this test is to find out where the gaps
are in the experience – it’s perfectly OK for us to
find mistakes as that is what this test is for
• Your role is to listen and observe – please make
note of what users struggle with and try to identify
what the real issue is
• You’ll be given an opportunity to ask your
questions at a prescribed time so please don’t yell
at the participants if they don’t navigate through
the experience with flying colours

52. So…
What’s your tip for selling
user research?

53. #5
The use of foul
language

54. There is one thing that is true
across all UX practitioners
We’re anal about
definitions of artefacts

55. We (and our stakeholders) are often
confused about these terms
• User Experience
• Information
Architecture
• Wireframes
• Mockups
• Lorem Ipsum
• Usability Test / UAT /
Focus Groups
• Business
Requirements
Document
• Use Cases
• Creative Brief /
Experience Brief
• Vision / Demo /
Prototype

56. The #1 tip for clarity
Always show
don’t just tell

57. So…
What UX words are in
your “foul” language?

58. In closing…
Usability is like oxygen –
you don’t notice it
until it’s missing