Usability Questions

There are several ways to effectively position a User Experience Team within a corporation. But picking the right location, is more of an art than science.  Historically, User Experience has been positioned in IT or Marketing organizations.  Both of these areas have positive and negative consequences on the growth and trajectory of a User Experience Team.  Although this is a gross over-generalization, corporate user experience teams fall in to two categories based on the targeted users of their deliverable: Outward facing teams (customer focused); and internal facing teams (employee focused).  Of course User Experience Teams may design for both customer and employee audiences simultaneously, but hopefully you get what I am saying.  Another important factor in a discussion on Organizational Positioning is the the complexity of the technical landscape which the User Experience designs.   Strictly speaking, a User Experience Team’s core competency is their design and possibly, display tier coding capability.  Alignment with technical resources, especially when design display tier code on top of  enterprise solutions, is a must in order to make things work on top of a complex technical system architecture. A third factor in the discussion is corporate leadership’s buy-in and commitment to User Experience.  This factor is probably the most important in positioning a team, but often initially overlooked.

So, after figuring out where your User Experience Team falls against these other factors, you might get the sense of how to best position your User Experience team.  But let me warn you… it is not that simple   

What are your experiences?  What have you seen work in your corporation for your User Experience Team? 

I’ve done a bit of usability testing over the course of my career–likely topping 1000 sessions–but recently learned that a lot of my Usability Testing peers never make it out of the Lab Testing Set up.  Out of necessity (THE Mother of All Invention) and a personal drive to understand how things work in a natural setting…   

I try to do usability testing in the most realistic environments, even if it requires me to have my remote note taking team hanging out in cafes or common spaces in buildings connected wirelessly via local wireless networks, and conference bridges.  Some Usability Peers find this really bizarre. 

In my situation the centralized “testing lab” metaphor doesn’t really work…   Our users are all over the place and highly specialized, flying them all to a lab is really expensive not to mention a huge opportunity cost since they’re not doing what they’re paid to do nor bringing in revenue.      

To test pages, I feel that I need to see them in the context of someone’s life–or as close to it as possible.  Some people see my style as a bit like reality TV.  No cushy labs with one-way mirrors, smoked glass, fridges or bars.  Very much like Contextual Inquiry…  Just the facilitator, the user/participant and a team behind the scenes somewhere on the planet… 

Anyone else out there doing this kind of work? 

Found this tool that helps people choose what usability method to select in specific situations!

http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/methods.htm

I’m pleased to say that my company’s corporate portal made Nielsen Norman’s Top 10 Intranets 2008!

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/intranet_design.html

I’ve been asked by skeptics of usability, what companies have usability professionals and/or User Experience Teams?

Here are a few that I know…  Please add to the list…

SAP, Microsoft, Intuit, Google, Oracle, Comcast, Cisco, The Hartford, Vanguard, Fidelity, JP Morgan Chase…  

I’ve often been asked, “What questions do you ask a candidate applying for a Usability Position?”

Here is an example…

• With an Internet browser open and showing your company’s homepage, ask the candidate to identify 3 usability problems with the Web site and explain their recommendations on updating the site to fix these problems.  In follow-up questions, have the candidate qualify their statements and recommendations with Usability best practice, experiences and research (personal, academic, etc.)

Do you have any examples?

US News published the 31 Best Careers in 2008 and Usability/User Experience Specialist made the list! 

Take a look at what they said…  There’s nothing ground breaking, but it does include a clear and concise explanation of what a usability specialist actually does!   

Link: US News Article on Usability Specialist

When I think about ensuring good UI usability, I find that many feel that if you include usability in your software design cycles, you’re done with it.  As we all know, over time Web sites and applications can evolve into something never imagined by its designer (even with the creation of design/branding/interaction standards).  That said, a user interface can lose its usability and become a painful experience.  Does anyone conduct regular Usability Checkups on their Web sites or applications?   Are the any best practices relating to Usability Checkups?

Today I heard that Apple slashed the price of the iPhone by $200 (US).  The WSJ indicated that Jobs appologized to the early adopters of this product and gave them a $100 (US) Apple Store credit.  Obviously a $399 (US) mobile devicel appeals more to the masses than a $599 (US) mobile device, but how does this impact how products are valued in the market place?

What does this mean for intuitively designed products?  I still believe people will pay a premium for intuitively designed products?  Arguably, the iPhone is one of the most intuitive mobile devices on the market.  Does dropping the price of this intuitive product mean that the premium for other–all–intuitive products will fall, as well?  Do intuitive and easy to use products still have market advantage and warrant a sizable premium?

What are your thoughts?