Practical User Experience

OCCHI Presentation Director, User Experience Alteer Corporation OCCHI Meeting November 2003

User Experience: A definition as it relates to software

The sum of what we call interacting with the “user interfaces” – the buttons, menus, displays, windows and gizmos – that make up the portion of the software product that is accessible to the end-user.

The “Practical” in the User Experience

• User Experience related activities exercised in a business framework.

• Solving one or many problems well enough so that the end result or its promises generate enough resources to sustain a viable activity.

• Solve real world issues in real world environment, today. • Provide viable, realistic & progressive solutions: Example of the EMR failure.

Being a “Practitioner”

• Recognize the right way (be prepared) • Construct relationships within the organization • Adopt attitude (e.g. non-interference) and establish rules of engagement • Practice what you preach • Validate assumptions (60% rule) • …be relentless

Positioning UX inside the corporate organization

Marketing Corporate Development Sales UX

UX Team Role

• Produce designs and detailed specifications for the product • Be the prime users advocate • Bridge Marketing and Development (image and reality) • Provide global vision • Become an independent and recognized corporate level Force

UX relationships

Marketing UX Users/Customers Development

User Experience Process Model: “What does the UX professional do?” Understand Think Imagine Deliver

UXPM: Understand

• Professional Context as it relates to Computer Human Interface – Nature of CHI (from Computer-centric to Human-centric) Punch – Type – Roll – Visualize – Support – Social Aspect of CHI (Access, Mobility) Single Fix - Local Group - Wide Group - Pervasive – Human Factors Techniques Prototyping - User Feedback - Usability

UXPM: Understand

• Professional Context as it relates to users – Their Goals (Achieve the real ones) – Their Tasks (Support them) • Technology/Domain knowledge as it relates to developers – Seize the instant – Computing Exponential Evolution – Nature of CHI (Moving from Computer to Human) – Social Aspect of CHI • Environment as it relates to marketing – Delivery method (ASP) – Competition

UXPM: Think

• Hold the “big” picture • Break out of the box: transcend existing solutions. Non conformism • Forge identity • Recognize good ideas • Define or borrow Rules • Genuine creativity is rare

UXPM: Imagine

• Follow rules – from top to bottom • Borrow successful implementations • Break through prejudges • Do not forget: In software, anything is possible • Be light, simple, elegant, flexible, straightforward, compassionate in your designs

UXPM: Imagine

• Application Posture • Modules Organization - Navigation • Interactions Vectors • Display Information • Data Input/Dialogs • Data output

UXPM: Deliver

• Drawings, Workflows, Scenarios • Design Documents • Prototypes • No developer will ever reproach you to be too explicit • Guidelines

UX Professional Characteristics

• Understand : Open minded, Flexible, Technically savvy • Think : Recognize, Beware, Abundance, Persistence • Imagine : Synthesize, Talent (essentially graphical) • Deliver : Diplomat, Team-oriented, Convincing, Reliable

User Experience Pitfalls

• Stay away from the “make it pretty” attitude – UI is more than skin deep • Being inconsistent • Separating the departments – instead push for multi-disciplinary teams of 1 UX, 2 Developers, 1 QA, 1 Cust.Rep (Trainer or Customer Support)

User Experience Pitfalls

• Feature Bloat aka “Bloatware” • Not knowing what users do with the product make it dangerous to remove features • Technology’s prisoner • Delivering without critical mass • Avoid “Launch and Learn”…

What about Usability?

Focus groups?

• Usability testing might tell you if the product you have is good but not what a good product is… Usability without design is like a band aid on a wooden leg • Usability should only be used to make adjustments to the product. If anything major is detected, it is usually too late… • Do not rely on Users and Focus groups to design the product for you: Example of reporting

UXPM: How do we know it is right?

UXPM Clement Mock, AM+A 4 D’s Schneiderman’s human activity stages

Understand Think Imagine Deliver Discover Define Design Deliver Collect Relate Create Donate

UX Decision: Application Stance

• Posture should reflect the application use • Context influence usage • Usage influence format: one time, all the time, occasional • Our application is “sovereign”

The Sovereign Posture

• Full Screen, all-the-time Implies: • Integrate (Input/Output) • Aggregate (Workflows/Tasks) • Support Multi-User • Expandable • Built-in Content

Platform Decision

Browser

OR

Platform Independent Rudimentary Vocabulary Information Presentation Easy Navigation Global access with connectivity HTML Limitations Single Clicking No dialogs, No Windows Design Jungle Easy Deployment Application Optimized interaction Large vocabulary OS leverage Existing examples Common Roots Local Access Tight integration with Input/Outputs Complex interaction,MDI Guidelines Install required

Platform Decision: What if…

Browser Platform Independent Rudimentary Vocabulary Information Presentation Easy Navigation Global access with connectivity HTML Limitations Single Clicking No dialogs, No Windows Design Jungle Easy Deployment Application Optimized interaction Large vocabulary OS leverage Existing examples Common Roots Local Access Only Tight integration with Input/Outputs Complex interaction,MDI Guidelines Install required

UX in Action:Being Interrupted

• Highly Interruptible Environment • Need to Support User’s Tasks Implies: - Quick access to information - Taking action before interaction with patient is over - Go back to original task/context

Being Interrupted: Applied Rules

• Easy access to frequent functions: Vectors – F3 for new message • Support User’s Task: Guarantied access to the right information • Save Context: Where have you been? Support it globally

Copyright Alteer Corporation 2003 All rights reserved.

UX in Action: Progressive Unveiling of Information

• Quantity of necessary patient information can be huge • Information requirements is different from user to user Implies: - Provide summary of information with capability to dig deeper - Regroup Information relevant to task supported

Unveiling Information : Applied Rules

• Visually show what, textually show which • Visually hint at pliancy • Hyperlinks simplify navigation • Show, don’t tell

Copyright Alteer Corporation 2003 All rights reserved.

Copyright Alteer Corporation 2003 All rights reserved.

UX in Action: Review vs. Input

• Information is verified very often but requires seldom editing • Information can be entered in batch (horizontally) and reviewed in a particular mode (vertically) Implies: - Format information differently for input or output - Have the task drive the interface elements

Review vs. Input: Applied Rules

• Allow Input whenever you output • A visual interface is based on visual patterns • Do not put might on will - Concentrate on the 99% • Bring information to user • Suppress reference to files: eliminate save buttons

Copyright Alteer Corporation 2003 All rights reserved.

Feedback: UX Impact

”After looking at a number of other products, we realized this one is clearly designed from the physician, or front line, perspective, it is not designed by engineers who want to force the physician to adapt to their rules.”

(Physician, Oakland)

“

What is unique is that everyone, no matter what their role or function, can get what they need at the time they need it from this system. The relevant view for everyone is available.

“

(Office Administrator, La Jolla)

“It’s hard to compare the concept because most systems just keep the paper and add something; this eliminates the paper, cuts our work in half, and is simple. The system teaches us to work smarter, we don’t just have a machine doing what we used to do.”

(Administrator, Michigan)

Those quotes were collected by an independent anthropologist through visits or phone interview with users of the Alteer Office solution.

Feedback: UX Impact

” Everyday we use the system we are more satisfied with it, it is not just the speed, it is that we understand each other’s work for the first time because we can see it.

.”

(Physician, Oakland)

“

Because now our days are not spent wasting time looking for paper, trying to get information, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, we’re helping patients. “

(Nurse, Michigan)

“The software has taught us how to do our jobs. We really could have used somebody helping us to understand just what a “workflow” is—we had procedures and habits but no real knowledge of anything other than chaos and confusion.

”

(Anonymous)

”Physicians resist everything, even their own potential for learning. I think the process would be a lot easier and incite less resistance, if Alteer would put all this change into a big picture. Where are we going and why and will I be a better physician when it’s over?

(Anonymous)

On the horizon…

• Increased dedication to human needs and workflow processes • Fusion between internet and productivity applications • Less dependant on technology:more freedom through increase mobility, plug&play, performance • End of scarcity: Abundant interfaces

To go further…

• Books “About Face 2, The Essentials of Interaction Design”,

Cooper - Reimann, Wiley, ISDN 0-7645-2641-3

To got further (offline)

• “Developing User Interfaces for Windows”, Everett McKay – Chapter 13 • “Visual Interface Design”, Virginia Howlett – Chapter 13 • “The Non-Designer’s Design Book”, Robin Williams • “The Age of Spiritual Machines”, Ray Kurzweil • “Visual Explanations”, Tufte

To got further (online)

• “

The new paradigm of tools and user experiences

”,Marc Canter (Father of MacroMind) http://www.broadbandmechanics.com/whitepaper/ np/NewParadigm.pdf

• “

Emerging and future usability challenges: designing user experiences and user communities

”, Sim D'Hertefelt (Co founder of BelCHI) http://www.interactionarchitect.com/future/vision20000202shd.htm

• “

Groupware and Social Dynamics: Eight Challenges for Developers”

, Jonathan Grudin http://www.ics.uci.edu/~grudin/Papers/CACM94/cacm94.html

http://www.acm.org/tochi/ http://research.microsoft.com/~jgrudin/