reverse the polarity! mike kuniavsky. this morning usability today reverse the polarity!

Reverse the Polarity!

Mike Kuniavsky <mikek@adaptivepath.com>

This Morning

Usability today

Reverse the polarity!

Ye Olde Usabilitye

Software

Human Factors

Experimental Psychology

Computer science

Universities

Labs

Then, the Web happened

Technology + The Bubble = craziness!

Changed user research and user-centered design forever

After the Web

Web = awareness + $

A fusion of old industries– Design– Information Science– HCI– Marketing

A tectonic shift

Creates crisis of purpose

And here we are

A lot of usability testing

Taught in design schools

Techniques shift from one to many– Psychology to anthropology/marketing research– Modules to environments– Abilities to expectations– Laws to solutions– Supply to demand

A new way of thinking about development, about people, about companies

What do we call it?

How do we adapt?

The Problem, part 1

Help! This is broken!

The client

We’ll help you!

The consultant

Hooray! You did exactly what we asked!

The Problem, part 2

6 months later

12 months later

18 months later

What to do?

Hmmm… !

What to do?

Reverse the polarity!Use user research methods to understand companies

Discovery, the Adaptive Path recipe

Start with traditional sales and consulting methodologies

Add structure and process

Incorporate user research and information architecture methods

Makes:

a thorough understanding of company expectations, needs, capabilities and desires

more relevant, more actionable user research

context

What we’re looking for

Understand the company– Structure– Priorities– Concepts– Terminology

Understand the product– What roles does it play in the organization

Understand the project– Scope– Process– Players

Understand the context

Techniques used

Structured stakeholder interviews

Focus groups

Artifact review

End products

Tangible– Controlled vocabulary– User profiles/personas– Formal documentation: MRD, PRD, Project Brief, etc.

Organizational– Company mental model– Prioritization

Informal– Makes people think– Makes you listen– Creates a relationship with participants– Communicates value of UCD

Stakeholder Interviews

Stakeholders: people who are affected by the performance of the product– Executives– Product/project managers– Customer service personnel

Formal discussion guide

Typically 10, as many as 20-30

60 minutes long

Stakeholder Interviews: Example

Children’s educational products company

Goal: restructure site

Major Findings– Brand drives all decisions at all levels– Site does not have to make money to be successful

Other findings– Kids submarkets: 3-6, 6-9, 9-12 (only girls)– Product lines large and unstable– One product chosen every back-to-school season as hero product

Focus Groups

Goals: to get expectations, perceptions, opinions, priorities, anecdotes

Less influential stakeholders

3-5 groups total

90 minutes long

Focus Groups: Example

Perceptions– Staff has never created children’s content– The calendar is a huge amount of work every month

Opinions– Not enough of the company’s innovation is communicated– Site is confusing even to employees– Not representing the brand well

Priorities– New user acquisition not as important as current user relationship– Can’t lose the teachers– Don’t anger Wal-Mart

Artifact Review

Ask for everything

Skim 90%

Read documents that summarize knowledge

Examples– PowerPoints– Product specs– Requirements documents– Consultant research– Server log analysis

Artifact review: Example

Internal child research team knows their stuff

Games are huge

No coherent content strategy

Much content accessed less than 5 times a month

Conclusions

What we do with it:– What user research to do– How to present results

Make users and companies successful

Thanks!

Pub: Morgan KaufmannISBN: 1558609237

mikek@adaptivepath.com