1. User Centered Design:How to please users and get the CEO off your back Dan Arra San Mateo, CA 650-218-4444 darra@macadamian.com

2. Selective Attention Test, by Daniel Simons Confidential 4/2/2011 2

3. Agenda User Centered Design (UCD) Overview Its a process but negotiation is important Support your choices with data Storytelling is complementary and effective Differentiate your product Confidential 4/2/2011 3

4. Demystify UCD Activities & Deliverables Users Who are they? What do they care about? How do they actually interact with your product? How would they interact with a new version/feature? Centered on value to actual users Product Strategy Workshop Key business objectives User requirements Design to illustrate value to users Design, test, incorporate feedback Rinse and repeat Confidential 4/2/2011 4

5. Demystify UCD Activities & Deliverables Users Personas context, context, context Centered on value to actual users Usage Scenarios Your business objectives their value Still gotta have documented requirements Design to illustrate value to users Wireframes, models, mockups Visual concepts Confidential 4/2/2011 5

6. Demystify UCD Confidential 4/2/2011 6

7. Demystify UCD Confidential 4/2/2011 7

8. Support your choices with data (and process) Gain agreement thru metrics Simplify your decisions Justify your choices Confidential 4/2/2011 8

9. Gain agreement thru metrics Define objective measurable targets Express from the customers/users perspective Both qualitative AND quantitative are good Confidential 4/2/2011 9

10. Simplify your decisions With success metrics in hand Obtained from actual users You have confidence about what to include And what to remove Confidential 4/2/2011 10

11. Justify your choices ( aka defend yourself) Charts, data During our first round of testing time on task was x seconds # of errors was reduced by y% Narratives We watched the users actually smile and relax when then completed this task Storyboards As you can see from this diagram, the new path to the reservation screen is Confidential 4/2/2011 11

12. Gain agreement thru metrics Organizational Confidence Success is often a matter of confidence If Sales believes in the product (based on metrics), they will do a better job selling it. If Management trusts youve made the right decisions, youll get the resources you need If Support understands the training issues, theyll be more effective Confidential 4/2/2011 12

13. Differentiate your productFeatures are important IF they are valuable to users Confidential 4/2/2011 13

14. Identify Goals & Tasks Users dont approach with a feature in mind think goals and tasks More isnt always better. More often leads to: Clutter Bloat Complicated Confidential 4/2/2011 14

15. Differentiate based on those goals & tasks Feature war Bad User Experience Study real behavior needs, goals, workflow, workplace processes through: Direct observation of users Feedback from users Organize tasks, sub-tasks by: Order of importance Frequency performed Map relationships & dependencies between tasks: Flowcharts Mapping diagrams Confidential 4/2/2011 15

16. Information architecture & task relationships diagrams Confidential 4/2/2011 16

17. Differentiate your product and sell more of it If it looks good, you will get more interest Its a process Good design can be measured Removes opinion and conjecture Requires expertise to test (Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell puppies, kitties and Aeron Chair) Confidential 4/2/2011 17

18. Who is Macadamian? Software Products Consultancy When the user experience is key Full scope of software development life cycle UX Design & User Research Software Engineering QA Testing Increasing customer adoption 14 Year Track Record, over 150 staff Hybrid Onshore/Offshore - Ottawa(HQ), Romania, Armenia Experience across multiple markets and products Wide range of skills and processes: UX design + Software Engineering + Test/QA Desktop (Win, Mac OS) Mobile (iPhone/iPad, Blackberry, Android, WP7) SaaS (.NET, LAMP, J2EE, RIA, Flash/Flex) Strobe/Sproutcore Partner Confidential 4/2/2011 18

19. What have we done lately? New Product Development, Extensions, Re-designs Mobile client development iPad, iPhone, Android phone & tablet Web development Web 2.0 apps with mobile companion products Desktop Clients Windows and Mac User Experience Design & Usability Testing Product Families Desktop, Web, Mobile Clients User Research including Usability walk-throughs Usability Testing Ethnographic research or job shadowing Examples Cisco FlipShare Mobile, Umi home telepresence Juniper Re-design of existing app to include web, mobile, desktop BitTorrent Macintosh client & Android Tablet (both design & build) Varian Medical Electronic Medical Record for iPad Confidential 1/18/2011 19

20. Our sweet spot End-to-end: from napkin sketch to release (and anywhere along your software development life cycle) Creativity: innovating in design and technology User Research: Validate user needs, usability, market, etc. Uncharted territory: dealing with technical uncertainty & potential for change Intense deadlines need for rapid response times Experience required theres no time for ramp-up Confidential 1/18/2011 20