embedding usability from scratch

michele ide-smith

Our journey

1. Create awareness

2. Develop skills

3. Change process &

governance

4. Establish toolkit

5. Dedicate resource

1. create awareness

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveknapik/3411517704/

1. create awarenessShow evidence – quotes, analytics data, user testing

clipsFocus on business benefits – phone transactions cost

around £3.22, as compared to 27p on the web!Show examples of good and bad designIdentify who you’re engaging or designing online

services for

Issues: • We need customer profiling data to develop personas• Everyone is a web expert and usability is a buzzword

2. develop in-house skills

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/t0msk/3983980813/

2. develop in-house skillsBuy and share books, links etc. Commit to some formal trainingAttend free events e.g. Cambridge Usability GroupWrite simple step-by-step guides e.g. cognitive

walkthroughsUse consultancy to fast track skills and increase

capacity (but in a way that supports in-house teams)

Issues: • We lack hands on experience to turn theory into practise• UX takes time/focus - this is in addition to our day jobs

3. change process & governance

3. change process & governanceFit UX into existing processes - Prince2 project

management, Agile (SCRUM), procurement etc.Aim to get usability built into all web projects (still

working on this one!)Show it works – build convincing case studiesBuild UX into the project business case (cost

savings)Highlight what goes wrong when there’s no UX

Issues: • We need consistent measures e.g. task performance,

conversion rates, satisfaction, emotional response• Business owners don’t appreciate the cost of poor design

4. establish a toolkit

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/capcase/2735500813/

Get a mobile usability lab – laptop, webcam, microphone and Silverback or Morae

Get some sharpies and lots of post-itsTry out web tools that are free or cheap e.g. Loop11,

Mockingbird, Crazy Egg

Issues: • Not easy to achieve in a ‘lockdown’ IT environment• Budget for tools is limited

4. establish a toolkit

5. dedicate resource

Illustrationredit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryhart/3964492825/

5. dedicate resourceWe learnt that UX research and design is time

consumingUsing a UX contractor helped demonstrate the value

of dedicated resource, but budget is tightI’ve skilled up our content team and project

managers, but they struggle to do focused UX in addition to their day jobs

But from June, we’ll have a dedicated post