Ideas > Personas

Ideas > Personas

Know Thy UserFor He Is Not Thee

Questions and Quote, Source: Why Software Sucks [2006], David Platt

Ideas > Personas

Definition of a “user”

Ideas > Personas

“This would be quicker to develop as a Web Application. Users will

understand how to use this.”

Ideas > Personas

“Yeah, most users will have access to a printer from their desk…”

Ideas > Personas

“Of course this button should be red. Users will know that this

means danger.”

Ideas > Personas

Think instead using Personas

Ideas > Personas

Sally (Sales Professional)• 38, Married• 2 Children• 5 years of computer experience• Windows, Office, PowerPoint• Has between 10 and 20 SME clients• Uses Sony Vaio and Samsung Blackjack

“Keep me connected to the top issues that customers are calling in with”

Ideas > Personas

Derek (Call Center Operator)• 25, Single• 9 years of computer experience• 3 years of which in a call center• PDA/gadget junkie – “lifehacker”• Relies on call center application• Gets bonus if exceeds monthly quota

“I want the application to decrease my time spent per call”

Ideas > Personas

Jim (Call Center Executive)• 57, Married• 4 Children, all left home• Very limited computer experience• Brenda (his admin) used to print all his

Email until very recently• Shows off his PDA on the golf course

“I want the high level, abstract view of my customers”

Ideas > Personas

“For Sally, a Web Interface may make sense. But Derek has a lot of

keyboard shortcuts we need to implement.”

Ideas > Personas

“Jim will have access to a printer via his admin, but Sally works on

the road, so may need another option”

Ideas > Personas

“For Jim, a red button may mean danger, but we should check for

Derek in our offshore call center”

Ideas > Personas

Takeaways

Do you use personas today? If so, how many?(3 – 7 personas per application is recommended)

How do you use the word “user”?(Think about personas to help define who you are writing the application for)

Do you know how UCD uses personas?(as a User Profile)

Source: Persona Lifecycle [Pruitt, Adlin] Morgan Kaufmann

Performance

Productivity

Purpose Prototype

Proactive

Platform

Proven People

Interface

Ideas

Internals

Personas

Ideas > Purpose

Ideas > Purpose

Create new document

Type text

Format the text

Email to editor

Ideas > Purpose

Create new document

Type text

Format the text

Email to editor

Task

Task

Task

Task

Goal

Ideas > Purpose

Ideas > Purpose

Create new document

Type text

Format the text

Email to editor

Task

Task

Task

Task

Filter

Ideas > Purpose

Create new document

Type text

Format the text

Email to editor

Task

Task

Task

Task

GuesstheGoal

Ideas > Purpose

Ideas > Purpose

Create new document

Type text

Format the text

Email to editor

Task

Task

Task

Task

ApplyConte

xt

ApplyConte

xt

ApplyConte

xt

Ideas > Purpose

Ideas > Purpose

Ideas > Purpose

Ideas > Purpose

Source: www.devcomponents.com

Ideas > Purpose

TakeawaysIn use cases, how do you deal with tasks and goals?(Focus on the difference between the two)How do you use context in your applications?(Use context to help guide the experience)

Could the Office UI be suitablefor your application?(Refer to the list of ISVs supporting controls)

Performance

Productivity

Purpose Prototype

Proactive

Platform

Proven People

Interface

Ideas

Internals

Personas

Ideas > Prototype

Ideas > Prototype

You want to build a house…

You hire a building architect…

You discuss requirements…

Ideas > Prototype

A prototype is created

Ideas > Prototype

12 months later…

Ideas > Prototype

You want to build a house…

You hire a software architect…

You discuss requirements…

Ideas > Prototype

Yeah, sorry, I don’t have much to show you right now…

Ideas > Prototype

I can show you some diagrams, but you won’t understand them.

Ideas > Prototype

But trust me – it’s going to be great!

Ideas > Prototype

12 months later…

Ideas > Prototype

In Software Architecture we don’t do enough prototyping

Ideas > Prototype

Static, one-way presentations(shown only to management)

Few re-usable design assets

Often different to what gets delivered

Ideas > Prototype

Great for Management!

• Looks almost done

• But… Users won’t give you much feedback…

• High Fidelity

• “Just sign here…”

Ideas > Prototype

Great for Users!

• Great for user feedback

• But… You wouldn’t take it into the board room…

• Low fidelity

• “Sure, we can move it…”

Image: Paper Prototyping / Nielsen Norman Group

Ideas > Prototype

The same set of controls

Inherit High Fidelity Style Inherit Low Fidelity Style

Ideas > Prototype

How about if we could switch styles?

Ideas > Prototype

Takeaways

Are you able to re-use any assets?(A prototype in XAML allows many design assets to be reused)

What prototyping do you do?(Software Architects don’t do enough)

What fidelity do you use?(A mix of high and low fidelity prototypes can be used for different feedback loops)

Performance

Productivity

Purpose Prototype

Proactive

Platform

Proven People

Interface

Ideas

Internals

Personas