UI13 Learnings: Part 1

There is no way to communicate all that I’ve learned at UI13. From web and software design to usability and communication techniques, I’m overwhelmed with knowledge that I didn’t have two weeks ago. Whether practical or not, here’s what I plan to implement at work:

1. Train Observers
This is one area I often skimp on. In the interest of time, with deadlines looming, costs being cut, and pressure from project managers, observers are often instructed to “observe”. Well, that’s not appropriate. To be fair, observers do receive a nice, succinct document that provides a little background on observing a study, but I will no longer expect observers to read the document. I will teach them the difference between observation, design ideas, and inferences.

2. Use Persona Cards
Personas don’t go very far where I work. They exist but they tend to remain among those who’ve created them. I love the idea of creating laminated cards for each conference room. It would be far too costly to give them out to every employee, but anyone who designs, creates, develops, programs, markets, or provides funding for our customer-facing projects should know the personas well and keep them on their desks.

3. Emphasize User Delight
At UI13, Jared Spool pointed out that he didn’t have to offer power strips in the conference rooms, but the fact that he did created delight among the tweeters and note-takers with laptops. No worrying about running out of battery because you can simply plug in. This little, low-cost effort left attendees far more content than if there had been no power. They weren’t expecting it so they’re more pleased. I want to implement more delight in my projects at work. Our customers are expecting X. Let’s give them X and a little Y to make them extra happy.

On that note, Jared says, “don’t just resolve frustrations - create delight.”

4. Compare Loyal vs Novice Use
This is an area I usually look at. Comparing how loyal users feel about your site or application to how new users feel about it can show you some very poignant differences. Most e-commerce sites want to both retain current customers, as well as draw in new ones, so it is critical to consider both user groups in field studies and usability testing. While I try to do this with most studies, I will emphasize this point more heavily when working with a client.

5. Must… Do… Research
No matter what, user research must be a priority. It doesn’t matter if we saved a lot of time getting the product live quickly if we need to spend a lot of time and money fixing it for months after release. Think of the users we alienate as we tweak this and that trying to resolve what probably needs to be completely overhauled. Jared says, “If you don't do research, you're screwed.” I concur.

Related posts:
UI13: Days 1 & 2
UI13