Management Bloopers Counterproductive Attitude Counterproductive Attitude Misunderstanding what
Management Bloopers Counterproductive Attitude
Counterproductive Attitude • Misunderstanding what user interface professionals do • Treating user interface as low priority • Discounting the value of testing and iterative design Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Blooper 76 Misunderstanding what UI professionals do • Designer versus programmer distinction • Variations – Assuming GUI programmer = GUI designer – Assuming graphic designer = GUI designer Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Blooper 76 • Assuming GUI programmer = GUI designer – Profound misunderstanding – Disregards value of good UI – Top-notch UI programmers – Poor user interfaces • Lack of UI design experience • Toolkit influences programmer • Lack of compromise Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Blooper 76 • Assuming graphic designer = GUI designer – Beautiful versus usable – World wide web – Graphic design • Detailed component appearance – UI design • Choice of components / labels • Easy to learn • Helpful toward user goals Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Avoiding Blooper 76 • Management • UI designer – Understands distinction between • UI programmers / UI designers • UI designers / Graphic designers – Chooses well-rounded teams – Prepares UI specification – Analyzes user requirements – Devises usability tests Page 419, Table 8. 1 Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Blooper 77 Treating UI as low priority • Assuming that usability has low impact on market success • Initial expense, later revenue • Usability speeds market acceptance • Assuming that the user interface is only “fonts and colors” • Narrow view • Interaction Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Blooper 77 • Assuming that users can adapt to anything • Functionality isn’t everything • Competition • Rationalizing • Budget cuts • UI affects entire product • Assigning the GUI to less experienced programmers Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Avoiding Blooper 77 • Management – High priority • • • Usability impact Early discovery Competitive marketplace Bad UI = Bad product Experience matters Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Blooper 78 Discounting the value of testing and iterative design • Good designers do not need iteration • “We do not have the luxury of usability testing” • Allowing no time to fix usability problems Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Blooper 78 • Good designers do not need iteration – Engineering discipline • • • Scientific basis Clear requirements Generation / Alternatives Constraints / Trade-offs Testing / Evaluation / Revision – Revisions equal failures? – Business risk Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Blooper 78 • “We do not have the luxury of usability testing” – Shorten development schedule – Testing helps navigate • Need not be expensive • Skipping does not save money – Marketplace testing Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Blooper 78 • Allowing no time to fix usability problems – Testing occurs without correction – Tests as proof – Tests as required step Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Avoiding Blooper 78 • Test at every stage – Simple testing – Valued feedback • Predevelopment tests – Page 431, Table 8. 2 • Testing participants – Flexibility • Use results! Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Bloopers 8. 2. 1 – Poor Tools and Building Blocks 8. 2. 2 – Anarchic Development 8. 2. 3 – No Task Domain Expertise on Team 8. 2. 4 – Giving Programmers Faster Computers
/ Blooper 79 / Poor Tools and Building Blocks – 8. 2. 1 • Developers want to choose the best tools for their development efforts, but many times base their selection on the wrong criteria like: Ease of Use Rapid Development Ease of Maintenance Familiarity Compatibility with current tools Native Operating System Back-End Compatibility Current Ownership Previous Use System Requirements Cost Prior Performance Record Licensing Issues Coolness Factor • While these are important issues, they have very little to do with the usability and/or usefulness of the applications that will be built using them. Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Blooper 79 / Poor Tools and Building Blocks – 8. 2. 1 • What GUI Developers should be looking for in a development suite are things like: Platform GUI Compliance General Interface Compliance Provided Compliance Mechanisms Level of Customization Timely Feed-back to user Internationalization Procedure Responsiveness Program Accessibility Cookie-Cutter Components, Custom Components, or Both • Developers and managers typically look at what benefits a tool will provide for them, not the benefits it will provide to the people who will be using the interface designed with that tool. • Consultant recommendations on alternative development tools are regularly met with much gloom and doom. Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Blooper 79 / Poor Tools and Building Blocks – 8. 2. 1 • 5 Examples of Tools Hampering Usability – Menus that Violate Users’ Muscle Memory – Unresponsive Components – Inadequate Navigation Feedback – Missing Important Visual Distinctions – Focus on appearance and layout, rather than function Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Blooper 79 / Poor Tools and Building Blocks – 8. 2. 1 • Avoiding Blooper 79 • The author does not provide a specific solution to avoid this blooper, rather he restates the importance of these development tool features: Platform GUI Compliance General Interface Compliance Provided Compliance Mechanisms Level of Customization Timely Feed-back to user Internationalization Procedure Responsiveness Program Accessibility Cookie-Cutter Components, Custom Components, or Both Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Blooper 80 / Anarchic Development– 8. 2. 2 • Uncontrolled, non-repeatable crisis-of-the-moment based Development. vs. • Proven, repeatable, company goals and user requirement based Development. • Examples p. 442 • Programmers making business decisions • Basically a total melt-down scenario Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Blooper 80 / Anarchic Development– 8. 2. 2 • Avoiding Blooper 80 • Implement a professional development process and make sure to stick to it. • • Don’t Hack … Design Developers are Publishers and should act like it! Give GUI experts more clout Take Responsibility Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Blooper 81 / No Task Domain Expertise on Team - 8. 2. 3 • Examples of task domain experience on p. 462 • No in-house UI Designers for complex domains • UI designers have no contact with experts • Designing “in the dark” • The burden of task domain identification and locating professionals in that domain falls upon the development organization Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Blooper 81 / No Task Domain Expertise on Team - 8. 2. 3 • Avoiding Blooper 81 • User-Centered design process • User’s task domain expertise is a must • Learn about the user’s work method • Use testing to guide design, not grade designers • When all else fails … hire outside experts Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Blooper 82 / Giving Programmers Faster Computers - 8. 2. 4 • Some justifications Engineers like speed Faster Computers = Improved Productivity Using latest hardware helps to shake out flaws It encourages customers to upgrade to faster units as well • Some Costs – Users can’t afford nor do they need an upgrade – Not everyone has T 1 access speeds, or can even get them – Programs may end up being poorly designed and simply rely on pure processing power to make up the difference. Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ Blooper 82 / Giving Programmers Faster Computers - 8. 2. 4 • Avoiding Blooper 82 • Compile on fast servers • Use mid-range systems to test product on • Try to design to the lowest common trait • Keep bandwidth limitations in mind • Put yourself in the users shoes (pocketbook) Management Bloopers Chapter 8
/ THE END / NO MORE BLOOPERS!!! Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Final Exam Review • 40% Johnson chapter 5 -8. – – What are Interaction Bloopers? What are Web Bloopers? What are Responsiveness Bloopers? What are Management Bloopers? • 40% Project (sliders, radio buttons, combo box plus painting and Timers) – 50% commenting code • 20% Comprehensive: broad questions asking informed comments on GUI design, GUI toolkits and the building of GUI applications in Java. Management Bloopers Chapter 8
Course Review • Project due Monday, midnight • I will write the exam Tuesday night and base it on code received. • Course evaluation forms can be supplemented with direct communication. • I thought presentations were very well done and will post grades this weekend (all A’s and B’s as of today). Management Bloopers Chapter 8
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