3. I’m Ruth
‚I help make
things easier to
use‛
User experience designer
Work mostly with
Federal Government
Loves gadgets
Chocolate appreciator
Information architect
Work at Stamford Interactive
Loves robots
Live in Canberra
5. Build a deeper understanding of the
problem space* in order to inform
your design process
* people, their activities, context of use, technical
constraints, business needs etc
10. Don‘t have
enough money
Don‘t have
the time
We already
know what
the users
want
We are the
users
It’s just too
hard
Don’t have
access to
the users
Barriers to research
12. 1 in 3 IT projects fail to meet
user expectations (worldwide)
http://www.tcs.com/news_events/press_releases/Pages/ITprojectunderperformanceacceptedasthenormbyglobalbusinessmanagementre
searchreveals.aspx
http://www.galorath.com/wp/software-project-failure-costs-billions-better-estimation-planning-can-help.php
13. Human error causes most
software project failures due to:
Unclear requirements
Overly optimistic and/or unrealistic
schedules
Lack of user input
Lack of executive sponsorship and
support
Turnover and layoffs
“Software Quality Insights”, published January 2009, http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/software-quality/why-software-
projects-fail-and-more-will-fail-in-2009/
20. Project 1 website redesign
Limited budget & time
Experienced web team
Project 2 web app redesign
Limited budget & time
Limited access to overseas users
Wanted recommendations for
improving UI
Project 3 intranet redesign
Limited budget & time
Limited access to some users
21. The techniques
Design concept wall
Interviews
Surrogates
The lunch room chat
The coffee meeting
Guerrilla usability testing
37. Use when...
No direct access to end user
Commercial-in-confidence content or
security concerns
Should not replace research with
actual target audience
38. Things to watch out for
Another layer of bias
Second hand information
47. A step by step guide
Plan
Recruit participants
Conduct usability testing
Debrief & decide with project
team
48. Test when and where you can
Listen & observe
Any users are better than
none
Use people who reflect target
group but don’t get hang up over it
49. To design an easy-to-use interface,
pay attention to what users do,
not [just] what they say. Self
reported claims are unreliable, as
are user speculations about future
behaviour
Jakob Nielsen
65. Scenarios or user stories
Personas
Presentations
Interesting visualisations
http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/legos-building-block-for-good-
experiences/
67. Some research is better
than none
Clearly understand why
you’re doing the research
Use a combination of
techniques
Small wins
Grab opportunities to
research!
68. Mike Kuniavsky’s Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User
Research
Intermediaries in user research, http://www.gurtle.com/ppov/2009/01/23/intermediaries-in-user-research
Can’t You Just Ask People?, http://theanthroguys.com/2009/09/17/can’t-you-just-ask-people/
Bite-Sized UX Research, http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2008/05/bite-sized-ux-research.php
Affinity Diagrams, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_86.htm
User Research for Personas and Other Audience Models,
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/04/user-research-for-personas-and-other-audience-models.php
Further
reading
70. Photo credits
selective color on a shoestring by theilr from http://www.flickr.com/photos/theilr/2988412495/. Available under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
Canton trade fair by tarotasticfrom http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjt195/380173157/ Available under a Creative
Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
Horse power by Zadok Ben-David (2003) by marie-ll from http://www.flickr.com/photos/grrrl/61040830/ Available
under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
easyJet A321 Cabin by WebDub from http://www.flickr.com/photos/irishflyguy/2436838012/ Available under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 GenericYoono by Glenn Batuyong from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennbatuyong/2436810549/ Available under a Creative Commons Attribution
2.0 Generic license
If you were choosing the default bookmarks for a browser, what would you choose? -- Current day safari
default bookmarks by Amit Gupta from http://www.flickr.com/photos/superamit/2254765518/ Available under
a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic license
Kent and austin in the inter@ctivate reception area – DSC00061 by sean dreilinger from
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43927576@N00/433923968 Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
71. Photo credits
Cafeteria at work by CaptQuirk from http://www.flickr.com/photos/perrynelson/3963005/ Available under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic license
Affinity diagrams by jderuna from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jderuna/2280189105 Available under a Creative
Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
Twitter icon from http://randaclay.com/freebies/free-twitter-graphics/
Hattori Hanzou by Hattori Hanzou http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/107089103/in/set-
72057594068446573/ Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0
Generic license
bookshelf spectrum, revisited by chotda from http://www.flickr.com/photos/santos/1704875109/ Available under
a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic licence
Thank You! by vernhart from http://www.flickr.com/photos/vernhart/1574355646/in/photostream// Available under
a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license