User Research & UsabilityGeoff Willcher, Ph.D.

Positioning myself at the intersection of People, Performance and Technology

UX Research Highlights• Brief Work and Experience History

• Technical Proficiencies: • My UX Processes, Practices, and Capabilities

• Adaptable• User Centered• Collaborative

• Strategic Thinking:• What is a Product?

• Information Architecture • Experiences in multiple domains• ID in the Trust domain

• Building Nicole: MBS Personas• UCD: Driving Principles into Practice

• Innovation in Research Tactics: More than 5 ways to Inform your Team• Challenging and Positive Work Experiences• Four Research Challenges: Evolving a Peak User Experience• Organizational Leadership

• Save the Company: Handling Orphan Bugs

Brief Work History ATT eCommerce – Att.com mobility

◦ Emphasizing customer experience as well as user experience◦ Building low cost personas with knowledge we already have◦ Promoting researched based design guidelines

MS TWC / PAGO – Trust User Experience Solutions and Outreach◦ A peak work experience under an impressive leader◦ Tasked with deep dive research into user behavior for trust interactions (security, privacy, online safety)◦ Provided UX consulting services across a wide range of company products.◦ * position eliminated with company wide cost cutting.

MS Office Design Group – Visio Client and Services◦ Taking Visio to the Ribbon with Lab studies, cognitive walks and Sort-IT card sort

MS Office Business Applications (OBA) --◦ LOBI Platform – Database Interoperability – PM, Design, UX team work◦ DUET (SAP & MS) – see SAP thru Outlook -- best study SAP had seen◦ Office for Sales – see CRM through Office apps – brought CRM realities to specs – the meaning of

“account” depends on what system you are in. MS CRM –

◦ Personas, Process Modeling and UX research for v2.◦ Heuristic Evaluation for Competitive Product Evaluation, labs studies.

MS Expedia – Web Travel Reservations◦ Changed silo interaction to dashboard; never went back◦ Created Heuristics Checklist

Brief Work History Eclypsis (Alltel) – Healthcare – Remaking the TDS 7000 (Char UI)

◦ Interaction modeling and prototyping, Object Modeling Tech, UML. ◦ Joint Application Design w/ medical professionals – switched p’types from B to wireframe.

The Cobalt Group – Automotive Web B2B, B2C◦ Installed Usability into company processes / practices◦ Lead UX, won hearts and minds ◦ Structured Walkthrough, Labs, Design Consultations, Expert Review

Worldspan – Agent Travel Reservations◦ Networking and Installation group◦ Network configuration observation and documentation◦ Web Reservation Site Info Architecture, UI specs, design evaluations

JHK / SAIC --Transportation Engineering◦ Highway Traffic Control Center site visits◦ Contextual Inquiry (CI), - Long Island Center – rebuild dispatcher workflow

NCR Human Interface Technology Center◦ Combustible Gas Detector Training project -- Ghostbusters◦ Interviews, Surveys, Field observation, CI., Focus Groups, Project Mgt.

MAPICS (formerly w/IBM) – ERP/MRP◦ Icon Guidelines, UX Guide, Expert Review, UML, Project Mgt.

My UX Processes - Adaptable Goal – There is no one true method to apply to all usability / user

research issues to gain perfect information. My goal is to apply good methods at the right time to the right issues to drive products toward optimal design.

Objectives:

◦ Involve users early and often

◦ Find big obvious problems with fast inexpensive methods

◦ Iterate rapidly with converging methods

◦ Adapt the research to the information needs and stage of the project

Approaches:

◦ Engage users – at work, on web, in person, conference, correspondence, lab…

◦ Observe real work in real settings, not only simplified lab type scenarios.

◦ Interact with users; get beyond sterile mechanical data collection methods.

◦ Front End Analysis and Ideation– put more time / money here to start off

Research:

◦ Know the value of preference, pretend, performance and production studies

◦ Use data driven personas; integrate persona attributes into task flows and use case scenarios

My UX Processes – User Oriented Become a domain near expert – know the software domain Close contact with users –

◦ observe real work in real settings, not only simplified lab type scenarios.

◦ Interact with users; get beyond sterile mechanical data collection methods.

Research – ◦ Use profile qualified participants◦ Derive profiles from customer research◦ Use data driven personas; integrate persona attributes

into task flows and use case scenarios – MBS Sales / Marketing personas

User Oriented Design – Design for the Real World◦ Goal Based – what are the user’s goals with the system in

this situation◦ Task and Workflow based – how do they do their work /

play / search / entertainment◦ Context based – what are the situations in which they use

the product; how do these affect design?

My UX Processes – Collaborative Integrate strongly with people in all roles for a

product / service: PM, Dev, Test, UA, Planning, Marketing, Manufacturing, Support…◦ UX doesn’t work in a silo, behind a wall or hide in an office◦ UX is not limited to recommendations about software

design; any change to any aspect of the product that will achieve UX goals is in scope.

Usability, Design, UA are partners; ◦ UX is very involved with Design in developing Interface and

Interaction design,◦ UX brings knowledge of customer’s goals, tasks, interests,

obstacles, patterns of work, work environments to the team

◦ UX and UA (writers) both evaluate text content, labels, instructions, etc.

Goals -- Deliver highly consumable research findings to influence product team decisions and create effective products that win in the marketplace.

Research – ◦ Express results as Patterns to influence multiple products /

features◦ Express user behavior as Patterns for better understanding

across use cases and usage scenarios.

My UX Work Practices – Deliver Results Set expectations for everyone working with me.

◦ What they can expect from me.

◦ What I need from them to proceed.

Honor my commitments with whatever effort is needed◦ I’m known for putting in whatever hours are necessary to deliver good

research in the time frame needed by the team.

Define and scope my tasks◦ I use project planning techniques to estimate tasks, assess resources,

determine responsibilities, and define deliverables so the people who receive my work are satisfied.

Be thorough while respecting time and resource constraints ◦ All work involves compromise with time, money and other resource

constraints.

◦ I want to make good tactical choices for the right UX methods to investigate each problem in the context of its time frame, depth of research needed to make a wise decision.

Be part of the team ◦ Support other UX researchers in the company.

◦ Integrate closely with product team members for specific products, and features.

◦ Understand and support the company’s business objectives.

My UX Work CapabilitiesSoftware development requires personal

capabilities as well as technical knowledge and effective work practices.

Work Independently – ◦ I’m confident and ask questions when I need to.◦ Successfully handle End to End Research responsibilities

Handle Ambiguity ◦ Define problems; delineate alternatives; develop solutions

Manage Deadlines and Pressure ◦ Use project management techniques to estimate and schedule work.

◦ Prioritize work to meet deadlines and release pressure

◦ Innovate methods to deliver results in minutes, hours or days, not months on a fixed cycle

Written Communication Skills◦ Authored many UX study reports and in-depth reports

Presentation Skills◦ Confident presenter; have taught university classes,

presented to product teams, given brown bags, etc.

Strategic Thinking: What is the Product?Listening to customer feedback, I discovered: The “product” is not the software in a box. The product is every aspect of the company’s service, support and technology

at every customer touch point. The Product is:

◦ The software application◦ The installation process◦ The trouble shooting and help support◦ The “3rd” party drivers, plug-ins and compatible applications – “nobody cares that a 3rd

party made the driver. The user sees the problem as being with Vista and the Microsoft brand.”

◦ The advertising expectations set by our PR.◦ The experience of opening the box – bloody fingers◦ The competitor’s anti-product messages◦ The customer’s past experience with other products by our company.

Users perceive “the product” differently than product teams do. They don’t care how our company is organized, they only know that the software with our brand on the box isn’t working the way we promised.

“User Experience” is a lot more than what you can study in a lab session.

Information Architecture

Interaction Design Experiences Interaction of:

◦ The application with other applications◦ The task flows within the product◦ Users on pages to accomplish their goal on the page.◦ Users with data by well chosen controls

Experiences – full and collaborative responsibilities◦ 14 + consulting experiences at Msft TWC

Single sign on; Win 8 IE Download, Healthcare,

◦ Collaboration with PMs to build Msft Lobi – Agile experience◦ Feature behavior design in Msft CRM◦ Cobalt Group – ID consults on Kia University, Parts Manager, Nitra Web

Manager, etc.◦ Expedia – getting out of silos; intro dashboard concept◦ Worldspan – Architected the Dates and Destination site◦ Worldspan – Architected network utility◦ Captura – Architected version of Travel & Expense Mgt web tool◦ Mapics – Product design for supply chain management module◦ Alltel Healthcare – Interaction design for Medical Ordering module +◦ GT Software – Architected Format Conversion Utility

Interaction Design: Trust Interactions between Consumers and Computers

If customers don’t trust our sites and applications they won’t use them to achieve their goals.

Pervasive problem across eCommerce, cloud computing, and all software tools:◦ Performed deep dive research into human trust / distrust behaviors◦ Developed in-depth understanding of user and consumer mental models◦ Introduced interaction patterns to trust design conversations◦ Interpreted precision trust definitions between humans to human, human to

computer and computer to computer. Clarified this difficult concept to reduce conflict between different discipline teams.

Experiences – full and collaborative responsibilities◦ Interaction occurs within a Trust Space◦ Interaction involves emotional – rational calculations◦ Interaction is based on perceived intentions of the web site or other human

party◦ Design requires a framework for discussion to ensure a solution that doesn’t

have gaps once built◦ Interaction, design and UI patterns are a good way to grasp the flow of events◦ Design proceeds from both user research data and from proven principles

TUX Context

Trust Environment

Interaction Design in Trust Space

04/10/2023 13Outline

Trustee: who

requests trust

Truster: who may give trust

Decision to Risk

Decision

to Offer

Interaction Pattern

I might lose…; I might gain

I might lose…; I might gain

Trust Content

04/10/2023 14

TUX Framework for Discussion

Conversations, Concepts and Questions

A TUX Framework Identifies:

Overall Context

Set of all entities, objects and relations

Describes the properties of all entities, objects and

relations

Structure: How are the entities and objects

related?

Behavior: How do the elements and the system

behave?

What are qualities of great TUX for participants?

Questions to be Answered?

What are the Contexts of TUX?1. User to User; 2. User to Computer ; 3. Computer to

User;4. Computer to Computer.

Have we identified all entities, objects and relations? Which are missing?

Have we described the relevant properties and values for all? Which are missing?

Have we identified all relevant relationships? Which are missing?

Have we identified all relevant behaviors of elements, groups and system as a whole? What is missing?

What can we change to create great TUX for participants and to avoid bad TUXes for them?

04/10/2023 15

Before

TUX Framework: Haggle Interaction Pattern: Key Elements

Haggle Trust Interaction Pattern

Truster Truste

e

Vulnerability: You don’t know what things are worth: “Trust Me, I have something to offer. How about this?”

During

After

Probabilistic Basis of Trust: You appear to have an identity: seller to the tourist trade; recommended by travel bureau… Basis for Exploitation: You appear to be a

tourist: carrier of money to spend…

Truster’s Counter-offer: “That isn’t what I need. How much for this other one?”Trustee’s offer: Exaggerated / False claim of value: “Priceless

heirloom, from estate sale, I can let you have for fraction of its value…”Trust Content : Trust Decision and Action: “Now that looks like real

art. What a value; It’s on sale because today’s Discount Day!? Here ‘s my charge card. “

04/10/2023 16

Designing Interaction from Principles

Trust Defined for TUX

Definition Element

Human Trust: Human to Human

User Trust: Human User to Computer System

User System Trust: System to User

Systems Trust: Between Computer Systems

Trust is a calculation (emotional and logical in humans; algorithmic in computers) :

How should we design and deliver risk communications, training, education and social skills to people so they can more effectively use emotional and logical evaluation and criteria to resist social engineering attacks?

What functionality choices can facilitate the user’s emotional and logical calculation?

How can we induce the proper mental model in users to interact with the trust components of a computing system and make wise decisions?

What calculations can systems perform on what data to verify that they are interacting with a valid user, with who the user says they are?

What calculation can systems perform to verify that the keystrokes they are receiving come from the end user and not malware or a hacker?

How can we design multiple independent sources of validation that can effectively guarantee security?

How can we design harder to spoof sources of validation between computing systems?

…enabling the truster…

What interpersonal practices are effective in home or in work environments to enable humans carrying critical security information to conceal their identity from social engineering attacks?

Do trusters recognize that they are carrying critical information that can facilitate social engineering attacks? Which methods can help prevent them from unwittingly giving away critical information?

How can users be authenticated to computing systems so that their identity cannot be used fraudulently?

How can systems be identified to users so that the user knows which system they are interacting with and when they are not interacting with a system that is misrepresenting itself?

What design / dev choices can hide, disguise or protect the individual user’s personal identity and its representations from being targets?

How can a system verify to a user that the user is interacting with the system they think they are using?

How can a system verify to a user that the user is interacting with applications / sites that are being presented to the user as being from / through the system?

How can the system keep its identity? Keep its identify from being changed, e.g., “I am who I say I am.”

How should a system’s identity be created so that malware cannot steal and mis-represent the identity and two system components to each other so they “know” who the other is and that they are talking to whom they think they are.

Dynamics – Sales / Marketing PersonasBuilding Nicole and other

Personas Created new; revised old Ensure data driven base Data from customer site visits Make the persona useful to the

design / development effort. More than a picture on a wall.

Personas: Microsoft Business Solutions - http://mbspersonas/

Role play personas in reviews Recruit personas for studies Represent persona as virtual

agent

Nicole - Marketing Staffer

Print View

"I make things happen."

Nicole produces, distributes and places marketing materials.

Title Marketing Staffer

Belongs To

 Large Marketing  Interactions

Manager:

I work closely with my manager on projects. He and I team up to plan campaigns; design marketing materials and to produce them. He gives a lot of initial input, gets the review; but I get to do most of the creative work.

Co-workers:

I split up campaign tasks with my co-workers. As a level 2 staffer, I handle more of the inside chores and less of those directly contacting customers. I work with the creative people in our outside graphics agency and direct mailing agency…

  Interactions

Innovation and Flexibility in Research Tactics: More than five ways to inform your team.

NIST documents 35+ usability methods; too many groups throw every problem at lab research.. ◦ We need to get more data from more customers in more realistic situations with

deeper investigation. A lot of research is superficial; as much as we can get in two days with the client.

Opportunities to Explore: ◦ Customer / Partner panels: long term, high and low engagement◦ Remote surveys and user research with prototypes◦ A/B testing of alternative designs on web sites / applications◦ Click through studies on web◦ Analysis of customer feedback from support contacts; send a smile, etc.◦ SQM◦ Usage tracking with Web Metrics ◦ Engagement with customer communities◦ Contextual Inquiry in depth; don’t just talk to executives◦ Field usability studies in real work environments

Efforts ◦ Cog Walk with real users◦ Observation of user task flow practices◦ Collect work demographics from participants◦ Draft OFS Sales Assistant persona◦ Flag informative participants for customer visits◦ CRM 2 choice one day study in my office◦ JHK – 2 machine study to maintain the contract

Driving User Centered Design: Turning Principles into Practice

A. Functionality Category Does the tool have the critical attributes to do the job in some capacity? If it

does not, it is the wrong tool for the job. If it has the critical attributes, then we can look at the extent to which it is well adapted, evolved, or designed for the job to be done. Critical attributes are the features or properties needed to do the job for which the tool was constructed.

1. Functional Effectiveness – Key Question: Does the tool have the critical properties to do the job? The most general effectiveness criteria that a tool should satisfy is that the tool has the critical properties to do the job regardless of how efficiently, effectively or how well it may be used by a user. If it does not, then it is not usable for the job at hand. This is a binary evaluation. You can’t smooth a rough cut piece of wood with a piece of tissue paper. You can with a piece of sandpaper.

A more specific effectiveness criterion asks: “Is this a good tool for the job? Does the tool have the critical attributes in the right form to function well in the manner for which it is to be used? This is the meaning of “effectiveness” for conventional usability. 400 grit sandpaper will not be as effective as `60 grit for smoothing the rough cut wood above. A handgun that shoots backwards would probably be considered as functionally ineffective, if “effectiveness” meant shooting something other than one’s self. It would be functionally effective if it was given to someone as a trap so that the receiver might shoot themselves.

It is important to be able to write and communicate clearly. A well chosen picture can complement explanatory text and attract readers attention. This is part of a guidance document to teach usability professionals to use new ideas when evaluating trust interactions that may not involve “ease of use.”

Challenging and Positive Work Experiences

MS CRM / Expedia ◦ Having an impact◦ Issue: What are the strengths and weaknesses of

CRM and its competitors: Sales Logix, Salesforce.com, Act, and Goldmine.

◦ Looking for points of attack / defense; where should we put our money? What features don’t we have to improve?

◦ Getting rid of silos and keeping dashboards visible

Heuristic Evaluation Checklist◦ Most tools don’t give actionable results◦ Most tools are too global: Resolution too gross◦ Solution: research HCI literature. Devise a finer

grained tool.

Heuristic Evaluation Checklist: Categories

• Information Organization

• Interface Behavior• Task Congruent UI• Graphical Presentation• Easy Navigation• Uses Persona’s

language• User in Control• Consistency,

Standards, Correctness

• Error Prevention, Protection and Control

• Recognition rather than Recall

• Flexibility and Ease of Use

• Aesthetic and Minimalist Design

• Help and Documentation

• Service (to user) Orientation

Heuristic Evaluation Checklist: sampleHeuristic

Information Organization

Information is grouped and segregated to support the user’s task.

Different information and work areas are segregated graphically.

Different information and work areas are segregated with text layout.

Related information is grouped.

Sequences of information follow cultural or user direction preferences or practices.

Primary task is in the primary viewing area of the page/screen.

Primary task stands out from alternative tasks or navigation

Interface Behavior

The interaction supported by the interface efficiently supports the user’s task.

UI reduces the user’s experience of latency (time delay).

UI acknowledges button clicks

UI acknowledges mouse-overs (ToolTips or appearance change)

When the application is busy, UI displays hourglass or other “busy” symbol

When processing time is lengthy a message or other indicator of relative processing time is displayed.

UI traps multiple clicks of the same button or object.

UI retains the state: user can return to previous state without adverse consequence.

Challenging and Positive Work Experiences

MS CRM – ◦ Two day, Two choice study◦ Close collaboration with PM to plan most

informative research; ◦ Building sales and marketing personas;◦ Building the sales process model from site visit

data

The Cobalt Group –◦ Parts Manager – Vin vs. Stock number◦ Introduced usability process and modified UML to

the company◦ Won hearts and minds of Account Execs, Project

Managers, 20+ Designers and Leads: KIA University, Nitra web site manager, Parts Manager,

Leads Manager

Four Research Challenges:Taking Visio to the Office Ribbon UIEvolving a Superlative User Experience

◦ As a contributing member of the product team, my approach is to plan, coordinate and run studies that drive all teams to produce an effective product for the marketplace. Not to just run isolated usability studies.

◦ These coordinated studied lead up to the Visio: Create a Basic Connected Diagram study which resolved issues around a major set of new features.

Challenges1. Fighting for our product’s version of the ribbon2. Impacting Design – How smart should we be?3. Contextual Tab is not Discoverable4. Discovering the “Quality without a Name.” Work within

the Drawing Pattern

Taking Visio to the Fluent UI:

Command Card Sort

Shapes in Window vs. Shapes in

Ribbon 1 & 2Infinite Page Study

Insert or Delete Connectors 1 & 2

Shapes Layout

Build a Connected Diagram Study

Evolving a Good Design through iterated, co-related studies

Challenge 1: The Ribbon: Fight or give in?

Ribbon Guidelines want the Visio shapes to come from the ribbon. Visio has always had a Shapes Window.

Shapes in Window vs. Shapes in Ribbon I and II – ◦ Should we move some or all of the Shapes

Window to the Ribbon – ◦ “No. Keep Shapes Pane on left. “ -- This Justified

a break with Office UX standard for the product. ◦ Is Quick Shapes useful? – “Yes. It keeps me from

going to 5 stencils to get 6 shapes.”◦ Is that important? “Yes, I have to work fast and

need to have all my shapes for my diagram type at hand.”

Shapes in Window or Ribbon: User Expectations Rule all

For all of Visio’s history Shapes have been accessed from the Shapes Window. Should we Change or

Fight?

Strong user reaction. Keep everything out of our drawings. Keep us in context. Don’t cover our work. Let us work fast.

Challenge 2: Driving Design: How Smart should we be?

Visio is evolving beyond “Shapes on a page.”

Issue: How smart should our feature be? Users are wary of too much assistance (clippy, task panes, auto-format for lists…)

Delete Connectors I and II studies –What rules should govern Smart Insert and

Delete? – ◦ Make room for user action, but “don’t re-arrange

diagrams for user. “ ◦ Provide limited auto align and space. ◦ Users are wary of us “fixing” and don’t “Make more

work for me. “◦ Repair some breaks, leave others alone.

Insert / Delete Shapes and Connectors II: Issues

What rules should Visio use when deleting connectors attached to deleted shapes? For:1. Terminator shapes: Starting or Ending2. Decision shapes3. Multiply connected shapes

1

3

2

Interaction Design, User Task Patterns and Success of Insert / Delete Smart

Insert Shape

Smart Delete

Issue: Task observation of users shows several patterns of work.

Problem: Some patterns of work lead to users not engaging the features.

Some features don’t have an initial UI element to grab. They appear contextually.

Fix the Smart Insert and Delete?

How it works. Drag a shape where you want it to be between other shapes. Drop the

shape when it is positioned where you want it. “It’s a bit tricky to get the alignment right, but when you hit it, it’s

obvious.”

Problem: Intrinsic Undiscoverability Problem: Nothing tells you that this behavior exists. You don’t start by

choosing an action. Current user task flows prevent them from engaging the feature.

◦ First they cut the connection

◦ Then they move each shape and its linked shapes apart to make room

◦ Then they grab the new shape and drop it between the two

◦ Then reconnect the connectors.

Users won’t discover the feature except by accident. Design is not an solution option.

Smart Insert – drag and drop shapes into an existing diagram

The hit zone was a bit tricky.

Challenge 3: Across Office: The Contextual Tab is not Discoverable In Visio research, participants consistently had trouble

being aware of the contextual tab being displayed. ◦ This was described as: “Still being a problem as of 2004” in a

Office Ribbon doc.

Independent Personal research and literature review shows problem was intrinsic to human visual perception.

Tab appears in peripheral vision which is not sensitive to color, fine lines, fast change.

Design team was exploring changes that would not work: color, brighter…

Based on my knowledge of human perception, made several recommendations now being considered.

Why is the Contextual Tab hard to Discover: Receptor Distribution

Approximate location of contextual tab when viewing a text / shapes in center of document window. Tab is in outside of color vision receptors and may be in

the “blind” spot depending on the user’s point of fixation..

We can’t resolve the tab’s fine detail

Figure 08-12 B Resolution in the peripheral retina.

Resolution is high only at the fovea and it decreases in the peripheral retina. In addition,

Color vision is best in the fovea and limited in the peripheral retina because of the lack of cones.

A representation of what the retina sees is shown in Figure08-13A.

Recommendations Design efforts should take into account the

characteristics of the human visual system.

Visual Cue A visual cue needs to connect the contextual object with the

contextual tab.

Animated movement from the contextual object to the contextual tab

Would visually relate the two. This could be a moving colored tab emerging from the object.

Slow Flash or Intensity Change The tab itself may need different highlighting, such as a short period

of low frequency flashing.

Bigger is Better The graphical design of the contextual tab may need to utilize large

visual areas rather than thin edges typical of graphical UI elements.

Challenge 4: Communicating Findings with Patterns

◦ Recalled user practices discovered in earlier studies Customizing their own stencils Typically using 4-6 shapes per drawing type Task flow patterns –

L to R; one at a time Build by modules; Polish one, then duplicate, position and rename

◦ Adapted study questions to elicit reactions to related features Quick shapes and the mini-shapes bar Auto-connect and your task flow (a change is coming)

◦ Assessed user reaction to a new task flow: Auto-connect, The mini-shapes bar, Quick shapes and drag-out connections

◦ Identified a UI pattern: Working within the Drawing – key principle of the Fluent UI

Drive Design Across Features with User Interaction Patterns:

Work within the Drawing Pattern (draft)

 Use When: A user is creating or editing a connected diagram such as a flow chart

with a drawing program. The program lets them place prebuilt graphical shapes onto a drawing canvas from a shape library containing multiple sets of shape stencils, and to access commands from a menu/toolbar area which contains commands organized into groups.

Problem: Locating shapes in the UI off of the drawing page forces users to

repeatedly move their mouse / cursor through long screen distances to find, select and use the shapes.  

Commands are also located off of the drawing canvas in menus, toolbars or graphical displays such as the Fluent UI or “ribbon” interface.

 Consequences: Large repetitive movements with the whole arm are required with this

design to move the cursor to the extreme edges of the screen. Movement within the document page requires smaller less fatiguing movements with the wrist and fingers .

Considerable time is spent moving the mouse cursor to the shape library area to get a shape, and then back to the drawing to position the shape on the drawing.

Considerable time is spent finding the right command or shape, which may not be on the currently exposed stencil.

Users have more work because there is no single area for frequently used commands.

UI Pattern: Work within DrawingSolution:

◦ Define in-drawing interaction mechanisms that enable users to access and apply content (shapes, tools and commands) how and where it is needed, without having to leave the drawing surface.

◦ Using the 80:20 principle, design product features so that users can accomplish most of the work on their most frequent kinds of drawings with contextual tools that display at the point of work within the drawing.

Key elements of the pattern ◦ The behavior of a UI element (ex: a cursor or a connector

or shape) changes as a result of its context.

◦ Changes in behavior happen at the point of work in the drawing (as opposed to the process of leaving the drawing, going to a UI container for shapes or commands, choosing one and then bringing it back to the drawing to apply it.)

◦ Frequent or preferred user choices are conserved and displayed, or are available, at the point of work for use.

◦ Opportunities for interaction by UI elements change as a result of their context, ex: proximity of one element to another.

A Company-wide Issue: Orphan Bugs and our Customers’ Satisfaction

A research report for ODG: 3rd Party Data on Customer Satisfaction with Office 2007◦ Office 2007 NSAT is down in some categories

◦ Customer perception of Microsoft favorability is declining.

◦ NSAT drivers show customers have issues with our quality, security, caring, communication and reliability.

◦ PSS calls show support call issues often are over Starving and Orphaned bugs

◦ Starved – punted to next milestone, release…

◦ Orphaned – low sev, low pain, pri3; will never get fixed: bad behavior, problems deep in code, cross features and products.

A Company-wide Issue: Orphan Bugs and our Customers’ Satisfaction

Consequences◦ Affects customer willingness to buy; delay purchase. ◦ Affects other MS products◦ Degrades Brand

Set of solutions for PMs are needed.◦ PMs will tend to be more attracted to marketable new

features than better behaving features◦ We can’t sell on basis of: “This release is less bad that

the previous one.”◦ What should we do when our normal life cycle isn’t

working? ◦ Answer: think outside the release cycle.

Using Usability Lab Equipment

Scoped, purchased and set up usability lab for Cobalt Group.

Scoped and advised U/W – Bothell on portable usability lab equipment purchase

Trained as technical resource for MSFT – Office Design Group’s OVO lab equipment.

Constructed and delivered training to all ODG UX researchers on the OVO equipment.

Assisted other researchers with lab problems.

Learned Morae lab management system.

Questions?