ux from 30,000ft - comp33512 - lectures 17 & 18 - week 9 - 2013/2014 edition #comp33512

Preamble In Real Life Break! Optimism Silver Bullets Wrapping Up

The User Experience

from 30,000ftCOMP33512

Week 09 – Lectures 17/18

Simon Harper

University of Manchester

Semester 2 – 2013/14

last update: March 19, 2014

The User Experience from 30,000ft 1 / 25


Discussion Topics Coursework # 3

‘Voice Loops as Cooperative Aids in Space Shuttle Mission

Control’ [Watts et al., 1996] (10 Marks) this paper shows just

how far UX and the techniques which it inherits from human

computer interaction can go. We are mainly concerned with

systems and objects which are purely commercial, however, in this

case failures in the human interface can have serious

consequences for a real-time mission, including the loss of the

vehicle. Further, these kind of UX techniques can also be found in

other critical interface components such as those controlling

nuclear power stations or fly-by-wire aircraft.

The User Experience from 30,000ft 2 / 25


UX Pop Quiz

1. What are qualitative methods and how do they differ from

quantitative ones?

2. What are the key problems with laboratory based work?

3. What problems may exist when undertaking single method

evaluation?

4. Why is co-operative evaluation different from other methods?

5. What tools are at the disposal of the ‘poor’ UXer?

The User Experience from 30,000ft Preamble 3 / 25


In Real Life

As Thoughtworks tells us:

I Realistic;

I Practical;

I Pragmatic; and

I Sloppy!

The User Experience from 30,000ft In Real Life 4 / 25


Expectation Reality - Even in Ethnography



Commissioning Constraints

Constraints:

I Just–In–Time;

I Too–Little–Time;

I Non–Specialist;

I Inadequately Funded;

I Pre–Supposed Outcome;

I Implicit Overrun;

I Due Diligence; and

I UnConstrained Experiment!



Expand on These



Information Requirements

Requirements:

I Flavour Elicitation;

I Ideas Elicitation;

I Informal Elicitation;

I Formal Elicitation;

I Pre–Supposed Outcome; and

I Laboratory Elicitation.



Expand on These



Limitations

Limits:

I Time;

I Participants;

I Resources; and

I Skills.



Expand on These



Available Skills

UXer Skill Sets:

I Instrumentation;

I Data Collection; and

I Data Analysis.



Let’s Have a Break!

Back in 10 Minutes!

Come see me now if you have

Questions Regarding this Lecture!

The User Experience from 30,000ft Break! 13 / 25


Optimism

We are Optimistic - we think we can create software that will

help users / make their lives better / make us money (?-yuck!).

We think we will bash every bug, satisfy every requirement,

develop elegant and beautiful code.

This Optimism can be our downfall!

The User Experience from 30,000ft Optimism 14 / 25


Brooks

I Managing the development of IBM’s System/360 family of

computers and the OS/360 software support package, then

later writing candidly about the process;

I The mythical man-month : essays on software engineering.

Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., Reading, Mass., 1995;

I Winner of the National Medal of Technology in 1985 and the

Turing Award in 1999.



Optimism – Lessons from Brooks

Adding People - Perfectly Partitionable Task




Adding People

‘Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later’




Adding People - Unpartitionable Task




Second System Effect

‘When it comes to creating the second version the developers are

buoyed by their expertise and mastery of the first system and try

to cram in as many of the flourishes and embellishments from the

first system as is possible’




Prediction Inaccuracy

‘What seems like short delays or inconsistencies in the work can

expand into very major delays’




Prediction Inaccuracy - Programming Rates




Prediction Inaccuracy - Debugging Rates




Throwaway Project

‘You should plan to throw away the first version of anything that

you create, be it a user interface design or an engineered

interaction. The first version often enables an understanding of

the system and aspects of the system development but it should

not be confused with a real live deployable user experience.’




Throwaway Project

‘Agile methods, and to some degree the iterative design cycle,

makes accommodation for these constantly changing factors. But

you should also realise that even though the project planner or

manager may have agreed a specification, that specification is

unlikely to be the one delivered.’



Optimism – Lessons from David Parnas

Changes Happen

‘One thing that has come out of the work of David Parnas, and in

some cases may be transferred back, is the ability to think of a

software project as a family of related products; Parnas suggests

this method anticipates enhanced sideways extensions and

versioning.’



Optimism – Lessons from David Parnas

Changes Happen

‘applications become highly partitioned enabling user experience

people to work on different interfaces for each member of this

family of related projects.’



Silver Bullets – Lessons from Brooks

I There is no single development, in either technology or

management technique, which by itself promises even a

tenfold improvement within a decade in productivity, in

reliability, in simplicity; and

I We cannot expect ever to see two-fold gains every two years.

The User Experience from 30,000ft Silver Bullets 21 / 25


Silver Bullets – Conclusions

‘While there might be no silver bullet (indeed the silver bullet may

take away some of the challenge, and therefore our fun), the best

advice I have is to always keep in mind the pessimistic view of an

optimistic visionary ‘most people are fools, most authority is

malignant, God does not exist, and everything is wrong.’.’

The User Experience from 30,000ft Silver Bullets 22 / 25


Pop Quiz for next week...

1. You are suffering from the ‘Too–Little–Time’ constraint and

need to get a formative evaluation with 20 people

(employees of the factory commissioning your new

production line software) underway very quickly. At this

stage you only need qualitative results – how would you go

about getting this information in the fastest time possible,

and why would you be cautious?

2. What are commissioning constraints?

3. What is real world work limited by?

4. Why is optimism often a bad mindset to have when it comes

to planning UX work?

5. Describe the ‘Second System Effect’ ?

The User Experience from 30,000ft Wrapping Up 23 / 25


To Do for next week...

1. Revision Questions;

2. Pop Quiz, Discuss Next Week; and

3. Read your notes.



Any Questions?

Simon Harper 2.44 Kilburn Building

0161 275 0599 (OR x50599)

[email protected]

Office Hours: Friday 14:00–18:00

Figure: ‘Still Here!’


[email protected]

ux from 30,000ft - comp33512 - lectures 17 & 18 - week 9 - 2013/2014 edition #comp33512

Technology

real life break

ft optimism

optimism silver bullets

ft break

ft preamble

user experience

optimism lessons

ft comp33512 week