Business Value ofUser-Centered Design and Usability

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Usability

Jeff Johnson

UI Wizards, Inc.

Reasons to Invest in Usability

�Market Demand�Cut Customer-Support Costs�Reduce Time to Profitability

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�Shorten Time to Market�Risk Management�Avoiding GUI Design Bloopers

Market Demand

�Faster, easier installation & setup�Easy to learn, use�High responsiveness

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�Tight product integration�Greater productivity, usefulness

Market Demand (cont.)

�Flexibility to accommodate later functionality

�Company brand, style identity�Better visual appeal

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�Better visual appeal�Support users who have disabilities

�Bottom line: “Retail quality” design

Cut Customer-Support Costs

�E.g., CompanyX gets ~180,000 ARs/month

�x 12 months/year�x $200/AR

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�x $200/AR�x 45% related to UI and user

requirements�Potential savings: $194 M/year

Reduce Time to Profitability

$$$Expenses

Time to profitability

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Time to market

$$$Expenses

Revenue

Time

Reduce Time to Profitability

Time to profitability shortens

$$$Expenses

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Time to market may lengthen

$$$

Moral:Improving usability before release can shorten time to profitability

Expenses

Revenue

User Centered Design Can Shorten Time to Market!

�Gives programmers a clear targetWhen you know where you’re going, you get there

faster

�Simplifies implementation

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�Simplifies implementationCoherent, factorable design ⇒ many commonalities

Just the functionality users need

�Lowers cost of revisionPutting more design iteration in revisions of object

model, sketches, low-fidelity prototypes, where it costs less than changing product code or architecture

Risk Management

�Introducing a new product or product version carries risk: Will it succeed?However success is defined

�Management wants to minimize risk

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�Management wants to minimize riskRisk is about predicting the future

�User-centered design & usability testing are risk-reduction investmentsLike buying insurance

Risk Analysis Guides Investment Decision

�Users internal or external?�Users homogeneous or diverse?�Use optional or required?

Impact on operations low or high?

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�Impact on operations low or high?�Informational or transactional?�Competition: little or much?�Competitive advantage low or high?�Strategic importance low or high?

Risk Analysis Guides Investment Decision

�Case 1: Aircraft maintenance shopOnline manuals to supplement paper ones

Users: internal, homogeneousUse optional; low impact on operations

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Use optional; low impact on operationsInformational, not transactionalCompetition N/A; no competitive advantageStrategically unimportant

Risk exposure is low=> Investment in usability can be low

Risk Analysis Guides Investment Decision

�Case 2: Photography equipment storeMoving bulk of business onto Web

Users: external, diverseUse optional; high impact on operations

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Use optional; high impact on operationsTransactional + informationalMuch competition; high competitive advantageStrategically important

Risk exposure is high=> Investment in usability should be high

Prime Source of GUI Bloopers:Anarchic Development�No design

“We don’t do design specs”But don’t really follow Agile rec’d practices either

�No UI standards or guidelines

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Publishers & media developers follow style-guidesMany software developers don’t realize they are in

that business ==> amateurish products

�No oversightLack of management or architectural controlResult: no coherent model, many UI inconsistencies

Avoiding Anarchic Development�Don’t hack. Design, develop, test, iterate.�UCD and Agile are compatible. Both value:

Understanding customer/user requirementsEnlisting task-domain experts (aka users)

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Devising conceptual model (“object model” in Agile)Analyzing task ==> use-casesFrequent testing & iterative design

�Fanatics in both camps need to adaptAgile proponents: up-front design is neededUCD proponents: the UI’s details will evolve

Avoiding Anarchic Development

�UCD + Agile/XP

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UI design for cycle 2

Code internal objects

UI design for cycle N

Code UIfor

cycle 2

Code UIfor

cycle N

Cycle 2

Summary:Reasons to Invest in Usability

�Market Demand�Cut Customer-Support Costs�Reduce Time to Profitability

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�Shorten Time to Market�Risk Management�Avoiding GUI Design Bloopers

References

�Time to ProfitabilityConklin, P. “Bringing Usability Effectively into Product

Development”, in Rudisill et al (eds), Human-Computer Interface Design, 1996

House, C. & Price, R. “The Return Map”, Harvard

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House, C. & Price, R. “The Return Map”, Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb, 1991

�Risk ManagementAltom, T. “Usability as Risk Management”,

Interactions, Mar-Apr 2007

�GUI BloopersJohnson, J., GUI Bloopers 2.0, Morgan Kaufman,

2007

Questions?

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