User-centered design for IT services: the low-hanging fruit
Ian Crew, IST–DS
Allison Bloodworth, CIO–Technology Program Office
User-centered design for IT services article series outline
Article 1 — Overview and introduction
Overview
What is user-centered design?
Why user-centered design?
Article 2 — The usability toolbox, part 1
User needs assessment
Competitive/comparative analysis
Personas
Article 3 — The usability toolbox, part 2
Task analysis
Heuristic evaluation
Usability testing
Think-aloud protocol
Card sorting
Prototype testing
Article 4 — Case study of a user-centered design process
Article 5 — End to end user experience and conclusion
Wide compatibility
Standards
Where to start learning more
Overview
This series of articles will introduce "user-centered design" (UCD),
which is a collection of several powerful and easy-to-use techniques for
improving the design of any IT product or service, including websites,
web applications, and desktop programs. The techniques described can
help you lower implementation, maintenance, and support costs while
increasing user satisfaction.
In this first article, we will discuss some of the basic terminology of
user-centered design and the reasons for using these techniques. In
future articles, we'll cover:
Some of the user-centered design methodologies that you can take
advantage of to improve your products and services.
A case study illustrating the use of these techniques to develop
a system in use on the UC Berkeley campus.
A discussion of how the larger IT environment affects the
usability and user experience of a product or service.
Resources to learn more about the topics discussed in these
articles.
These articles are based on a presentation that we gave at the
2006 UC Computing Services Conference. A copy of the slides is
available at http://tpo.berkeley.edu/resources/User-CenteredDesign.ppt.
We would be happy to give a customized version of this presentation to
any group that would find it useful. Please contact us at
and
if you are interested.
What is user-centered design?
User-centered design (UCD) is a method of designing products or services
with the needs and capabilities of the user as the primary factor in
most design decisions. The goal of UCD is to increase the usability of a
product. A "usable" service is easily learnable, efficient, and
memorable. Its users are satisfied with their experience and find it
difficult to make errors [1]. Many other terms
including usability testing, user experience (UX), and human-computer
interaction (HCI) are used to talk about related concepts or techniques.
Usability ·"[Usability refers to] the extent to which a
product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals
with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified
context of use." — ISO 9241-11
Usability testing is one of many methods for gathering input
from users on a design or design concept.
User experience describes the overall experience and
satisfaction of a person when they use a service.
Human-Computer Interaction is the academic field studying the
interaction between humans and computer.
Using the user-centered design techniques described below can provide
many benefits for any IT service (website, system, program, etc.),
including:
Increased productivity: If a service is easy for a user to
understand and use, the users of that service spend their time
getting work done rather than figuring out how to make the service
do what they want it to do.
Increased usage and adoption: With the great diversity of
services available on the Internet today, if a service is confusing
or difficult to use, people will tend to go find one that is easier
to use or may find ways to work around the service entirely (such as
by calling or coming into an office). Also, by involving users and
making them feel like they're a valuable part of the design process,
they will be more likely to be willing to switch from their old
methods of accomplishing a task to the newly designed (or
redesigned) service.
Decreased support and training costs: If a service is easy to
understand and learn, users will be able to accomplish their tasks
with less training and support, saving time (and money) for both the
organization providing support as well as the user. This is
particularly beneficial in situations where websites or applications
are developed and supported internally, resulting in the
organization paying both the person taking the time to provide
support as well as the person requesting the support.
Reduced development time and costs: UCD allows you to discover
which features of a service the users truly need and will actually
use. This results in significant savings in time, money, and
effort that might otherwise be put towards implementing features
that would be infrequently used.
Reduced maintenance costs: If the initial version of a service
provides the functions that its users need, there is a reduced need
to update or retrofit it in the future.
Increased customer satisfaction: If the users of a service are
able to do what they need to do efficiently, without being confused
or having to ask for support, they will — obviously — be
more satisfied with their experience using the service.
No matter where your organization is currently located on Jakob
Nielsen's "Corporate Usability Maturity" [3] model,
from open hostility towards usability to a user-driven organization,
there are things you can do to increase the usability of your services
and improve the user experience. In our next article we will discuss
several of the tools that can be used to accomplish these goals.
Editor's note: Ian Crew has a Master of Science degree in
Human-Computer Interaction with Ergonomics (MSc HCI/E) from University
College London. Allison Bloodworth has a Master of Information
Management and Systems degree (MIMS) from the University of California,
Berkeley.
