Daniel Hardy

Features that sink

PC World has a great article highlighting several applications that were better before the manufacture added more features.

The ideas laid out in this article are something I often consider. How many features are too many features? Perhaps more importantly, if you reach the mysterious boiling point what should you do?

The first concept has no definitive solution as is often the case in the development world. Each and every product will have its own point where the application should stop growing. One sure way to elevate this point is to ensure that you have a strong usability and interaction design team working with you. This will hopefully allow you to maximize the experience for a broader range of users.

The second concept is a tricky one. Often an organization has scores of developers working on an application and if there is no more features to add there maybe no more use for the developers. The easiest solution is to roll the developers onto new projects. Interestingly this maybe a great solution to the first question. If the marketplace has room for the features you wish to build then perhaps you application should be divided into two. One for the novice to intermediate user and one for the expert power user.

This is where web-based applications have a great advantage. Because web applications store information about users it becomes easier to have two separate but seamless application views. Advanced uses will see one set of features and interactions while the novice user will see a different set. Either way the data they are working with can remain the same. The application will determine at which point the user starts seeing the advanced view. Generally a decent starting point is to allow the user to choose a more advanced option or base it off of the amount of data the user is working with.

Given enough time every application will experience feature bloat. How the application handles it can make the difference between a great application or just another bloated piece of software that is difficult to use.

Know your peers

A List Apart had a great article today about “who” is in the world of user experience design. The article and corresponding PDF are a worth while read for anyone in the industry.

Design Corporation Wide

Here is a great dollars and cents look at design. Sam Lucente has created a new view of design at HP and by doing so is saving the company millions. Read more about it in Streamlining HP at FastCompany.com

Improving the user experience of usability

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about the User Experience of Usability. Since then I have been consistently thinking about ways to improve upon usability’s user experience. As I stated in the previous post every organization is different so the methods to improve the user experience are going to be different.

I do believe there are somethings usability professionals can do as an individual to improve the experience of working with usability. The following list contains few ideas I have come up with and are only backed by my personal experiences.

Become and industry professional

Do not just stop with knowing the usability side of your industry but branch out to learning about the development and infrastructure sides as well. By doing so you create a deeper respect and understanding for what it takes to build those beautiful designs you created. It also can help build respect from the development/infrastructure group by allowing you to speak at their level regarding the various development/infrastructure problems.

Become an active user

Use as many applications as you can and more importantly use them regularly. Do not just use the product(s) you are assigned or even just the product(s) your organization creates. This will keep you up to speed on the problems arising in the industry and more specifically your genera of products. It will help you see problems before you are asked to find a solution and can give you an idea of features your company may desire.

Consistently seek new interactions

Always be searching for new innovative interactions and tools that facilitate the construction of said interactions. This will help you create a mental library of various solutions. Utilizing this library will allow you to be more responsive and shorten your design time. Any time you save means more time for other members of the project to complete their work. Building a library of tools can come in handy when overcoming the “We cannot build that because it is not possible.” argument. It also allows you to lead developers towards a tangible example of how you want the widget to function.

Use research to build your case

Remember that when you are an expert in a field that others probably do not share your knowledge. This lack of understanding causes the stakeholders to not follow why you created the design as you did. To over come this you may need to explain in detail and provide research backing your decisions. This consistent validation can be tiresome but it has been my experience that stakeholders will learn that your decisions are not made on a whim and start respecting your decisions.

Choose your battles wisely

This might be the most important thing to remember. It is extremely rare that usability is the primary concern of the stakeholders. In many situations the stakeholders’ concerns directly conflict with creating a strong user experience. Each conflict can create a rift between you and them, therefore it is important to choose only the points you feel can make or break the experience. This will minimize the rifts creating a stronger relationship between you and the rest of the team.

These are just a few ideas I have come up with to help increase the user experience of usability. Many of these ideas may seem like second nature or old news but I find complacency comes quickly and easily. Therefore taking a moment to reflect on them is always a good idea.

User Experience of Usability

What is the user experience of usability? This question has been rolling around in my feeble mind over the last several days and I am yet to find an adequate answer.Usability is like cellphone production. The primary stake holder is not always the end user. Cellphone manufacturersrarely sell their phones directly to the public. Instead they sell them to a service provider who in turn sells them to the public. Usability functions in the same way in that, those who usability must answer to are generally not the customer. More often it is the business group or development leadership for that application that ultimately prioritizes the value of usability.

This creates an interesting situation where the primary concern of a usability specialist (end user) is often not the primary concern for the person making the final call. The difficult piece is that users generally don’t understand all variables that go into building a product. If usability gets cut to meet a deadline or for simplicity in production the end user may get a lower quality product. In the end, the user doesn’t directly care if it was easier to build or makes it to market three days sooner. All that matters is that the product works as they desire.

With this in mind can the user experience of usability be improved there by improving the end product? I think the ultimate answer to this is – it depends on your companies protocol and priorities but there is always some room for improvement. Realistically usability must strive to find a harmony between what is right for the user and what is right for the business group. In my opinion this is the definition of a usability specialists. They become a mediator attempting to balance what is best for the business while safe guarding what is best for the end user. Unfortunately these two often conflict making the usability specialist the outsider when it comes time to deal with the stake holders.

What can be done to improve the user experience of usability? This is hard to say and perhaps a topic for another day.

What is your brand image?

This weekend I decided to catch up on my geek news and watch the co-interview of Steven Jobs and Bill Gates. With in the first few minutes of the video I realized just how each of these men’s companies is the personification of the respective founder. Bill Gates is completely nerdy, he looks like a nerd, walks like a nerd and really talks like a nerd. By nerd I mean you can see his social awkwardness and udder lack of “cool.” Windows has struggled with this for a long time. Jobs on the other hand was smooth, elegant, and well constructed. This falls in line with the general publics view of Apple.

What if we extend this thought process of the product being a personification of the founder to Linux? Will it hold true?

I think it does. Linux is created by thousands of people, from thousands of cultures. Some are nerds and others are collected and smooth. The beauty is when you get to know Linux you can see that it is much the same way. It allows each user to easily make it there own, thus fitting to anyone and everyone. Some of the products on Linux are really nerdy and lack elegance. Others are extremely well designed and constructed.

Now perhaps this idea should extend to one more place. If you had a company/product and this idea where to hold true for you. What would your product/companies image be like? What would be your user experience?