postcard patterns : an agile user interface pattern creation process

An Agile User Interface

Pattern Creation Process

Ian SwinsonLead UI Designer

Jason WintersUI Manager, Applications

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Agenda

1. Salesforce: A Brief History

2. Patternforce V1: A Cautionary Tale

3. Patternforce V2: A New Beginning

• Who is our audience?

• How do we deconstruct our application?

• How do we document our application?

4. Workshop: Time to Play

5. Presentation: Show us your “Postcard”

6. Wrap Up: Thank you!

With the power of Salesforce applications and the Force.com platform, you can run your entire business on the Internet.

“

”

43,600+Customers

1,000,000+

Subscribers

150 Million

Transactions Each Day

2004

<100

2

1

1

Feature Teams / Waterfall

2008

500+

28

12

8+

ADM / Scrum

R&D

User Experience

Locations

Applications

Process

1 12Databases

“Houston, we have a problem…”

Quality Assurance

Documentation User Experience

ProductManagement

Development

Customers & Partners

Popular Pattern Libraries

Apple Tidwell Yahoo! Welie Oracle

Structure of a Single Pattern

This can get complicated

Scale of a Single Pattern

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

How Did We Do?

2* in 6 months

<5 percent*Note: They weren’t even done

The Realization

Define Our Audience

Our Customers

Pattern LibraryPattern Library

User Experience TeamUser Experience Team

DevelopmentDevelopment

CustomersCustomers

PartnersPartners

User Experience CommunityUser Experience Community

Product ManagementProduct Management

What Did We Learn?

Development has some unique requirements:

To avoid writing HTML

To avoid creating new UI

To re-use code (components)

To avoid reading lengthy, detailed, convoluted specifications

What Did We Learn?

Everyone wants: An online, centrally located, easy to access and easy to

share library of common design elements Up to date information A shared vocabulary Improved communication

A more efficient process

More visuals and less text

Get new hires up to speed rapidly

What Did We Learn?

User Interface Designers want:

To spend time doing design work

Deconstructing Our Application

Organize the Data

Organize the Data

Create affinity diagram to identify themes

Create categories and sort the cards

Our Structure

FlowsFlows

PagesPages

Page ModulesPage Modules

Pop-ups & Overlays

Pop-ups & Overlays

Messages & Dialogs

Messages & Dialogs

Widgets & Controls

Widgets & Controls

Patternforce Taxonomy

We ended up with a large,but relatively flat, list.

Postcard Pattern Creation

A Postcard Pattern

Why It’s Agile

Satisfy the customer – Postcards are easy and quick to author, and answer 80% of the highest priority questions.

Changing requirements – Easy to create, means easy to edit and iterate.

Face-to-face – The most productive authoring sessions involved a half-dozen team members “blitzing” in a room together, all crafting patterns. Meetings with developers are more efficient with visual aids.

Simplicity – Easy to create and easy to read. If you have a question get face-to-face with the author.

Self-organizing teams – Choose which pattern you author. Keep the taxonomy fluid and all documents completely transparent to the team.

Reflection – Regular meetings to check progress, priorities, innovations, holes, deprecations, etc.

What Makes a Good Postcard Pattern?

Use the “Goldilocks” Principle

If the pattern doesn’t fit on a single page, consider breaking it apart or reducing the amount of detail

You can always add detail later

If the pattern doesn’t fill a single page, consider grouping it with other similar elements – e.g. common web form elements

You can always break it apart later

Rule #1: Must fit on a single 8.5” x 11” page

Pattern - Anatomy of A Pattern

Title

Summary

Category

Author &ModificationDate

Variations(optional)

Candidacy:Redesign?Componentize?

GraphicsScreenshotsIllustrations

Does it Work?

Before

After2

43

6

3

<5

95

# Mo %

Workshop!Vacation postcard

Workshop!

Some Pointers Paper is not interactive - You’ll have to use your memory

and imagination for the examples.

Audience – You and your new team are the audience.

Taxonomy – Don’t worry about it at this point. Work up to it.

Pattern – Choose something relevant, interesting or challenging.

“Postcard” It – Keep it on one page.

Have fun!

LinksPattern Libraries Apple

Yahoo!

Oracle

Jenifer Tidwell

Martijn Welie

Tools FreeMind

Google Spreadsheets

Omnigraffle (OSX)

O’Reilly: Designing Interfaces

Browser Look and Feel Guidelines

Apple Human Interface Guidelines

Welie.com

Yahoo! Design Pattern Library

freemind/sourceforge.net

Google Docs

The Omni Group - OmniGraffle

Links

Resources The GUI Bloopers series

Johnson, Jeff

10 Commandments of DesignRams, Dieter

Eight Golden Rules of Interface DesignShneiderman, Ben

The 10 Commandments of Information DesignBuchholz, Garth A.

Eight Golden Rules (link)

10 Commandments of Design (link)

http://www.gui-bloopers.com/

10 Commandments of Info Design (link)