Interfaces have always been areas of peril in software development. This presentation to the O'Reilly Software Architecture Conference 2016 in London challenges teams to include interfaces with people, and maybe even with paper, in their notions of where development begins and ends. For anyone delivering software that has to be used by real people, the presentation will help you distinguish between software that is “deployed” and actually “delivered.”

1. Interfaces include
people
Caroline Jarrett
@cjforms
#sacon

2. @cjforms because I’m the forms specialist
Image credit: Flickr, taxrebate.org.uk
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3. I’ll talk about people from three viewpoints
• People who make decisions about what we make
• People who use things that we make
• People in their rich variety
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett3

4. People who
make decisions about
what we make
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5. I learned about programming at university
Stoy, J. E (1977) ”Denotational Semantics: The Scott-Strachey Approach to Programmming Language Theory”5

6. My first job out of uni: computers for shops
Image credit: Deborah Fitchett https://www.flickr.com/photos/deborahfitchett/39994632466

7. We used event-driven methods
Image credit: Pluke https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CPT-FSM-abcd.svg7

8. My desk at work used to look like this
Image credit: Alex Handy (vonguard) https://www.flickr.com/photos/vonguard/2430069752/in/album-72157604647023310/8

9. Delivering anything was very hard
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett9

10. I was very happy when ZIF sockets arrived
Photo: Rainer Knäpper, Free Art License (http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en/) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Textoolfassung_28_(smial).jpg10

11. We’re not exactly against incremental methods
Image credit: Cartoon Caroline Jarrett
Image credit: Photo Alex Handy (vonguard) https://www.flickr.com/photos/vonguard/2430069752/in/album-72157604647023310/11

12. We’re used to the steps being hard. And long.
Build
MeasureLearn
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13. 1.
Help us to
understand small steps
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett13

14. Things used to crash. A lot.
Image credit: By DevEd - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1727744814

15. I’m tremendously grateful about all that you do
Image credit: Rory Hanratty @Rory80hz15

16. People who
use things that we make
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17. Back to my days in the shops
Image credit: Deborah Fitchett https://www.flickr.com/photos/deborahfitchett/399946324617

18. We tended to focus on technology
Image credit: Flickr Bill Bradford https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbill/326722722718

19. “Why do we have to write our initials?”
Image credit: Flick David Lounsbury (Technodad) http://bit.ly/1SlK9YD19

20. 2.
Usability is important
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett20

21. How do you get from ‘Deployed’ to ‘Useful’?
Image credit: Rory Hanratty @Rory80hz21

22. Moving something to ‘Done’ isn’t enough
Image credit: By Rakuten, Inc. - 投稿者自身による作品, CC 表示-継承 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2706821422

23. 3.
It’s not “done” until someone
uses it for something real
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett23

24. “Architect for build, test, deploy” Murat Erder
Used
Delivered
Deployed
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25. DONE:
when someone uses it for something real
Used
Delivered
Deployed
DONE
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26. DONE:
when someone uses it for something real
Used
Delivered
Deployed
DONE
Who is the ‘someone’?
What is the ‘something real’?
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27. Useful
Usable
Used
Used
Delivered
Deployed
DONE
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28. Useful
Usable
Used
Can they use it?
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29. Useful
Usable
Used
Can they use it?
Usability testing
(user research that’s mostly inwards)
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30. Useful
Usable
Used
What do they need?
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31. Useful
Usable
Used
What do they need?
Understand people and what they do
(user research mostly outward)
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32. Change the focus of user research by phase
User research mostly outwards: understanding people and what they do
User research mostly inwards: usability testing
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett and Clara Greo @claragt32

33. 4.
User research in every sprint
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett33

34. People
in their rich variety
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35. Back to my days in the shops
Image credit: Deborah Fitchett https://www.flickr.com/photos/deborahfitchett/399946324635

36. We could get computers to talk to each other
Image credit: Flickr Steve Judd (Mr Tentacle) http://bit.ly/1SFW59G36

37. Something missing from this schematic?
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett http://www.formsthatwork.com/files/Articles/DataCaptureCosts.pdf37

38. Keep people in the picture
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett38

39. 5.
Interfaces include people
Image credit: Flickr mikeloa26 https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikelao/140627553/39

40. People can be inventive when they have to be
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett http://www.formsthatwork.com/files/Articles/DataCaptureCosts.pdf40

41. They make changes and corrections
Image credit: Caroline Jarrett41

42. We rarely encounter the elecamonglebat
Image credit: William Hudson http://www.syntagm.co.uk/design/elecamonglebat.htm42

43. Our abilities vary all the time
Image credit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/design/practice#toolkit43

44. When we’re stressed, the amygdala grabs as
much resource as possible. So, cognitive deficit.
Idea from Naintara Land Image credit: http://www.memorylossonline.com/glossary/images/amygdala.jpg44

45. 6.
Test with a rich variety of people
Image credit: Ismael Nieto https://unsplash.com/photos/CeZypKDceQc45

46. We’re familiar with some types of diversity
https://twitter.com/p373r/status/78904457738684825746

47. 7. Work with a rich variety of people
https://www.gchq.gov.uk/file/d-i2015cogslogopng47

48. 1. Help us to understand small steps
2. Usability is important
3. It’s not “done” until
someone uses it for something real
4. User research in every sprint
5. Interfaces include people
6. Test with a rich variety of people
7. Work with a rich variety of people
Caroline Jarrett @cjforms #sacon
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49. Caroline Jarrett
Twitter @cjforms
http://www.slideshare.net/cjforms
carolinej@effortmark.co.uk
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