usability for business analysts - 24 june 2009
DESCRIPTION
How does usability relate to the role of a Business Analyst or a Business Analyst Manager Trent Mankelow from Optimal Usability looks at the two and asks - "Can't we all be friends?"TRANSCRIPT
Trent MankelowDave O’Brien
Introduction to Usability for Business Analysts
Tonight’s menu
• About us
• What is usability?• Examples of bad usability
• Usability definition
• Usability benefits
• Usability and the SDLC
• Usability activities• User-testing video
• Business analysis versus usability
Retail / Consumer
Financial Services
Not for profitTelecom / IT Media / Publishing
Government InsuranceEducation
135 clients, 17 industries
Retail / Consumer
Financial Services
Not for profitTelecom / IT Media / Publishing
Government InsuranceEducation
80% of work from 3 industries
80%• Government• Telecommunications• Financial services
8
“60% of end users find enterprise applications
somewhat difficult, very difficult, or almost impossible to use.”
- CIO.com, May 2008
What is Usability?
“Usability is the measure of quality of the user experience
when interacting with something.”
Jakob Nielsen
Applies to all sorts of stuff• Web
– Internet sites– Extranet sites– Intranet sites
• Paper prototypes• Software• Mobile phones• IVRs
– Speech-enabled– Touch-tone
• Office environments• Out of the Box Experiences (OOBE)• In-car navigation devices• Kiosks • In-flight entertainment systems• Retail store design
ISO definition of usability
Easy to use UsefulSatisfying
from ISO 9241
• Increased user productivity
• Decreased user errors
• Decreased training costs
• Reduced development costs
• Decreased user support costs
Roger Pressman, Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, McGraw-Hill
Usability benefits
Usability and the SDLC
Usability and the SDLC
Usability and the SDLC
Usability and the SDLC
Usability and the SDLC
Usability activities
• Field studies• Persona development• Information architecture design• Interaction design• User testing• Heuristic review• Usability analytics• ...
Field studies
Persona development
Information architecture design
Interaction design
Heuristic review
Usability analytics
Business analysis vs. usability
Business analysis vs. usability
• On a typical project:–What are a BA’s main goals?–What are a usability specialist’s main
goals?
Business analysis vs. usability
Typical BA goals (from a UX perspective :)- Meet business goals by:
- Researching current processes- Identifying what the new system should do (requirements)- Designing improved processes
Typical UX goals• Meet business and user goals by:
– Researching users– Identifying how the new system should work (design
principles)– Designing a UI with the users in mind– Evaluating/iterating the design until it works well*
A better BA/usability result
• Beware the ivory tower- Secondhand folklore instead of user
research- Opinion-centered design*- Long cycles with little user involvement- Different ≠ better- WE ARE NOT THE USER!
A better BA/usability result
• Develop use cases and UI in parallel– BA, SME: Do skeleton draft of UC.– BA, UX: Talk through the main
points.– UX: Sketch some screen
variations.– BA, SME: Start filling in the details.– BA, UX, SME: Iterate/refine UC and UI
• UI design often improves the UC itself.
A better BA/usability result
• Make use cases visual (where possible)
A better BA/usability result
• Leave the text for the details.• Not all visuals are clear!
A better BA/usability result
• Make the UI a visual companion to the UC
• Signing off a use case without a UI= writing a bad cheque
“One way or another, you will be
tested.”
- Bruce Tognazzini
More from Optimal Usability
• Monthly newsletter – subscribe at optimalusability.com
• Introduction to User Testing training – August
• Presenting to your internal teams on usability (FREE!)
Trent [email protected]
Dave O’[email protected]
20 staff, 4 offices
Auckland, NZ Wellington, NZ
Sydney, AU Canberra, AU
The key: early involvement
Business Case Development Post- Rollout
Time
Cost of ChangesNo. of possible design alternatives
Roles and responsibilities
Roles and responsibilities