Learnings from the 2013 Usability Conference

 In July, representatives from our design, digital and pdi (product development and innovation) departments attended the 2013 User Experience Professional Association's (UXPA) annual   conference in Washington DC.

 The conference this year offered excellent keynotes and sessions on the topic of "collaboration". Session and Keynote topics ranged from practical ideas to long-term strategies and vision for keeping users at the center.

 

I've asked Brian (from PDI), Eloise (from design) and Jason (from digital) to each share a key insight they took away from the conference this year.
_______________________________________________________________________

Brian Singer-Towns

Product Development and Innovation Manager for Curriculum

 

Keynote: Frugal Innovation! 

 

The title of this keynote presentation immediately caught my attention. We are all about frugal innovation at Saint Mary’s Press!

 

We are a non-profit creating resources for non-profits. Our customers need us to be innovative but they also need us to deliver our innovative products with frugal price tags. So it was very inspiring to hear the presenter, Navi Radjou, make the case that when compared to large corporations with multi-million dollar R&R budgets, small frugal companies and individuals are much more innovative.

 

He gave the following as examples:

• A person in India who invented a bike that turns bumps in the road into engine power
• The Nano car which only costs $2000-$3000
•  In Africa, a system has been created to transfer money by phone without needing a bank account
•  An infant incubator has been created that only costs $200 (instead of $20,000) that has the added advantage of allowing the mother to hold the baby (see the website jugaadinnovation.com to see some of these examples)

 

Based on his study of many examples of frugal innovation, Navi suggested four takeaways we can learn:

 

1.     Focus on the customer need and the value of our solution to the customer (don’t start with a specific product idea or technology)

 

2.      Keep it simple (respond to the critical need and don’t increase your product’s cost and complexity with unneeded options)

 

3.     Do rapid experimentation (have an idea, develop it cheaply, get it to market quickly, get feedback, reiterate)

 

4.      Leverage partnerships (this is not just the age of social media, it is the age of social solutions—it may often take several small, key entities working together to solve a larger problem)

 

We already apply several of these principles in our product development at Saint Mary’s Press, especially the first one. 

 

But what would happen if we took all four of them seriously?

 

________________________________________________________

 

Eloise Sendelbach

Design Coordinator

Session: "Collaboration for the greater good: how a new government agency changed the face of financial experiences".  

 

This session focused on how important it is to talk to your users (and listen to them!) and how to use progressive engagement to avoid scaring users away.  

Some key points to consider:

• Starting with general questions to open them up and get them talking, then work into really narrow questions.  
• Asking users to not only give feedback on your product but also to critique, can get to deeper issues or problems they may be having.

“This works so well because humans have a fundamental need to be consulted, engaged and to exercise their knowledge.”

•  Getting users engaged in helping to develop your product is not a popularity contest, and you should not be afraid to put something out there in front of users because you don’t know what people will say!
•  It is not good enough for the thing (product) to be good, users need to agree.
•     Then show your users that you listened, and why you did or didn’t use their feedback.
• Turn your data you collect into information and follow these steps:

·         Build the process

·         Ask for feedback

·         Refine based on input

·         Users will recognize that you are listening to them!

·         Start the process again

Through this process, this successful collaboration will build its own momentum!

 ________________________________________________________

Jason Shawley

Digital Strategist

Session: Multiple

My major take away from UXPA this year was very meta.

UX is not only about what the user tells you during a test. It's what they tell you every day while using your products.

 

When it comes to websites or apps, hidden behind all of the shiny graphics and shopping carts is a complex system that is capturing your users’ data (analytics). This system will capture what they are searching for, how long they stay, where they are from, what pages they go to most and what kind of device they use to access your content.

 

All of this data should be looked at and reviewed on a monthly basis. By reviewing the analytics you can assess what the user is having trouble finding or what they search for the most.

 

This will allow you to make changes to your websites or apps quickly to help users get to the information they are looking for or adjust your website to fit the device they are using to view your content. Ultimately, enhancing the user experience.

 

 Also, by reviewing all of the data, you might come up with an idea for a new product the user is asking for. Take the time to match up key word searches in categories that fit your content. It’s possible you have the content or product that a user is looking for but can’t find because they are searching using a different term.

 

Update your products, content metadata and websites with the terms your customers are using. By doing so you will make the user experience better by making the content and products easier to find.

 

Your customers leave behind a wealth of data every time they visit your website or apps. Make sure to put on your mining hat and dig for the hidden gems of data that lie below the surface.

Get off the Wagon Train- Get on the UX-Rails



 Before the presence of the transcontinental railroad, people who wanted to travel west had to resort to slow and sometimes treacherous terrain.  But once tracks were laid across the country and there was a designated path on which to travel, journeys west became faster, safer and cheaper.

Travel through projects is not unlike these travels across country. If we stay on the rails and the customer tracks (or key tasks) already laid down, there is a clear way to determine what we do and how we do it. In other words, travel through the project should be faster and cheaper than if we took a route not based specifically on user tasks.

 The FACTS:

• Every project has a set of UX rails on which it travels. 
• Those rails are the customer tasks and requirements. 
• If the project stays on the rails it WILL reach its destination efficiently and effectively.

Over the last 2 1/2 years, I don’t think I have encountered one project that –having adhered closely to the UX-rails- did not reach its destination.

This does not mean that every project has gone on to be published or become a live site. What it does mean, however, is that every project when guided first and foremost y by an understanding of the user, their discreet tasks and corresponding requirements- will naturally arrive at a direction and ultimately the right destination.

This, to me, is the genius of UX.   

From a product development perspective, when there are limitless opportunities of what to create and how to create it, UX work illuminates

1.  The location of the tracks or customer tasks, i.e. those pieces which justify project travel.

2.  How to configure the train for the specific rails, i.e. how many cars (of content) should the train have?  Should these cars be their own train or would it make more sense to attach these cars (of content) to another train. Is what we are hauling the right make-up for what the customer tasks are? Should the cars have open access or do they need to be locked (in the case of curriculum assessments)?

From a financial perspective, UX work indicates early on if there is value in spending our time, money and resources travelling on a particular set of tracks AND it allows us to focus our resources in on providing and creating those aspects of a project that are most important and necessary for the customer to be efficient, effective and ultimately successful in their work.  

From a customer perspective, UX work provides us tools for understanding which travels  will be of most value and most compelling to our customer.

Last, but not least, from a mission perspective, UX work helps us to always remember what we are trying to do and for whom we carry out this important work.

In the end, it is just not possible to go wrong when you ride the UX-Rails!



Photo credit: Bicentennial Wagon Train in 1988. Jacksonholejournal.net