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Application in the Technology Industry: Process to Protect the User Experience
By Michael Korn

We introduce this new column on usability, written by members of the San Diego chapter of CHI (Computer Human Interactions).

Click here to learn about SanDCHI.

Author Michael Korn's [see bio] primary professional goals are:

1) to design products that make everyday tasks easier to do with technology than without technology,
and

2) to contribute to the technology community such that San Diego becomes known as a haven for ease-of-use technology development.

This month's column is intended to lay the groundwork for a continuing series of writings related to usability application in the technology industry. The content may be a bit dry this go-around, but I'll try to include an example or two so that we all stay on the same track.

In practice, usability has many different meanings:

• process of designing and evaluating for ease of use
• application of behavioral methodology to the collection of user interaction data
• tool used to facilitate or obstruct the development of a product
  

Any or all of these three definitions can be operating during the product development cycle at nearly any time.

Usability process, also referred to as "user-centered design" (UCD), is often embraced by product or usability managers who use the process as a means of maintaining their own objectivity while also reminding themselves and others for whom the product is being designed.

Folks who are focused on usability or UCD in its process state have usually attained a position in the product team in which they are able to apply user ease-of-use principles early in the design process.

Usability as an application of behavioral methodology is the usability professionals' jargon for doing the nuts-and-bolts user-testing work. Managers and professionals might use the term usability to refer to usability test design, data collection, data management, data analysis, and formulation of conclusions. These practices as well as product usability guidelines are based upon empirical, behavioral research that is continually being confirmed and/or disconfirmed in universities all over the world.

It is the practices and rigor of behavioral science that can effectively distinguish usability research from market research. In this context, usability is jargon for all stuff that behavioral scientists do to facilitate ease of use.

Usability as a tool used with strategic or even nefarious goals in mind is the application of process or technique for purposes for which usability was not designed. This is clearly the most dramatic and possibly entertaining use of usability. But it is often the most deleterious to the product as well as the profession.

Products that attempt to use usability test results as a justification or "blessing" for the already completed design are asking the usability professionals to swallow their tongues for the sake of the product. This is similar to a gymnastics trainer's predicament if the gymnastics coach asks the trainer to allow an injured gymnast to perform even though the trainer and the coach know that the athlete is injured.

As you might infer, usability is a term that can easily be misinterpreted and sometimes misused. Usability is sometimes used synonymously with terms such as UCD. The balance of this column is dedicated to the usability or UCD process.

The Usability Process

The steps associated with the process of designing for ease of use begin with identifying the objectives. The objectives might include 1) designing a Web site so that most consumers perceive the product to be easy to use and 2) creating a product that can be installed on a home computer with a minimum of frustration.

Objectives should be sensitive to the business objectives and engineering constraints, also. So, if you're asking whether it's necessary for usability professionals to know marketing and software engineering, the answer is a resounding, sort of. You need to know enough to be sensitive to their objectives. And you need to err on the side of knowing too much.

Once objectives are set, the usability engineer will set measurable goals. These measurable goals will set the framework for the balance of the UCD of the product. Based on the objectives, goals might be to design a product that can be successfully installed by 90 percent of the target population without a customer support call.

Another goal might assess whether the product is easy to use. For instance, a goal of 80-percent success on the most common product task with two or fewer errors might signify a goal.

It is then incumbent upon UCD or usability professionals to define the users. Using empirically valid sampling and survey techniques, the usability pro systematically begins identifying the characteristics of the most likely users of the product.

Again, it's important to maintain sensitivity and respect for the business' perspective of who the current users are as well as other target populations the business is hoping to attract.
Once user profiles have been agreed upon, usability identifies and prioritizes the product tasks on the basis of the behavior characteristics outlined in the user profile. Those products that make the most common tasks easy to use for the right user segments are far more likely to have high customer satisfaction ratings.

The design of the product follows the prioritization of the tasks. In an ideal world, a user interface (UI) designer would then design the screen flow of the product on the basis of the "requirements." These requirements may be distributed by business, but they should have a separate section for usability requirements and should reinforce the close association between the UI designer and the usability engineer.

Only after a testable design has been created do we begin the actual testing of preliminary versions of the product with real users. But, as should be clear by now, the influence of usability up to this point is almost as important in designing easy-to-use products as is the actual testing.

Next month, I will go into more detail about the methodological definition of usability. I will outline many of the procedures that usability professionals use. I will also try to describe why rather subtle, seemingly irrelevant procedural steps can greatly influence the usability test results and, ultimately, product design.