Dimensions of Usability: Defining the Conversation, Driving the Process
Get a clear understanding of usability...
"Have you ever wondered if your colleagues or clients really understand usability? Too often, standards or guidelines substitute for really engaging our business, technical and design colleagues in a discussion of what usability means. By looking at usability from five dimensions, we can create a consensus around usability goals and use that definition to provide the basis for planning user centered design activities.
SETTING THE STAGE
It’s a conference room. Five or ten people from a project team. You are starting a new project. Perhaps it’s with a new client or a new team. They have decided they want some of that “usability” they’ve been hearing about, and you are the person who’s going to help them get it. The project leader starts.
“We want to make our product more usable” You reply, “OK, let’s talk about your goals in a little more detail, so we can plan how to achieve them.” Then he throws down the challenge card. “You’re the expert. You tell me.”
Or perhaps they say, “You know. We want it to be easy for people to use. Intuitive. What should we be doing?” All eyes turn to you. What you say next will set the stage for all of your work on this project.
Sound familiar? In this situation, I have two goals.
The first, and most immediate, goal is to get the other people on the project talking about usability in a way that both informs me as the usability professional on the team and helps them understand what I will be doing.
Second, I need to use this information – sometimes quickly – to define the process and select the right activities to meet the usability goals for the project.
The dimensions of usability are my entry point, how I get the conversation started." continued ... (Via uiGarden)
"Have you ever wondered if your colleagues or clients really understand usability? Too often, standards or guidelines substitute for really engaging our business, technical and design colleagues in a discussion of what usability means. By looking at usability from five dimensions, we can create a consensus around usability goals and use that definition to provide the basis for planning user centered design activities.
SETTING THE STAGE
It’s a conference room. Five or ten people from a project team. You are starting a new project. Perhaps it’s with a new client or a new team. They have decided they want some of that “usability” they’ve been hearing about, and you are the person who’s going to help them get it. The project leader starts.
“We want to make our product more usable” You reply, “OK, let’s talk about your goals in a little more detail, so we can plan how to achieve them.” Then he throws down the challenge card. “You’re the expert. You tell me.”
Or perhaps they say, “You know. We want it to be easy for people to use. Intuitive. What should we be doing?” All eyes turn to you. What you say next will set the stage for all of your work on this project.
Sound familiar? In this situation, I have two goals.
The first, and most immediate, goal is to get the other people on the project talking about usability in a way that both informs me as the usability professional on the team and helps them understand what I will be doing.
Second, I need to use this information – sometimes quickly – to define the process and select the right activities to meet the usability goals for the project.
The dimensions of usability are my entry point, how I get the conversation started." continued ... (Via uiGarden)
Dimensions of usability
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