Refreshing Our Corporate Memory

Last week, Brian Still, Director of the Usability Research Lab at Texas Tech University was on site again to train a third wave of folks in the principles and practice of usability.

As Sara and I discussed some of our current projects and usability challenges with Brian, he reminded us that one of the values of training another group of employees is that it refreshes our corporate memory.

He reminded us that while eleven employees  had gone through the training in the last year, two of those have since pursued new job opportunities beyond the organization and two have moved into slightly different job roles since taking the training.

Training new people refreshes again the organization’s collective understanding of what it means to develop a product side by side with the user of the product. Having additional folks trained also ensures that those engaged with the work of developing products and services are empowered with the knowledge and skills to do the work efficiently and effectively.

Having taken the same class last February, Sara and I continue to be surprised at what is again reinforced for us in the midst of each training. Whether it’s questions of clarification that come up or different nuggets of knowledge that the new teams latch onto, widening the circle of employees with this knowledge and skill base broadens and deepens our total corporate memory and practice.

I hope in the coming weeks and months you will have the opportunity to not just hear what folks in the most recent class took away, but to work alongside of them as they put into practice their new found knowledge and skills. Until that time, take the opportunity to ask those who took part what they learned, or better yet, ask them to show you. 

There is a lot we can learn from this new class of user experience professionals, and I for one, can’t wait.

Understanding Users Leads to Innovation

Guest post by Sara Lawrence, Product Development Brand Manager,
Saint Mary's Press

Back in December, John asked me to lead new–to–the–world innovations at Saint Mary’s Press. At the time, I was pretty comfortable in my role as marketing associate, dabbling in a number of different areas. But the more I discerned the idea, the more I was feeling called to move into this new role.  So, not quite knowing what it all meant, I said yes! I officially moved into this new role in March and have been forging a path ever since.

So, what better way to dive in than to hold an Innovation Kick-Off retreat! I knew the most important piece to innovating was going to be the voice of the customer. How could we possibly come up with innovative ideas and not put our customers at the center of it. So, for the purposes of the retreat, we focused on parish customers.

I dove into the huge well of site visit data we had on parish customers and found some major trends. From there, I created a problem statement that encompassed the struggles our customers are facing and the goals they are trying to achieve. This statement was the most important piece of the retreat – this statement would be thing we would go back to throughout our two days together to gut check our ideas.

The 9 of us (8 SMP employees + an innovator from NC) converged on the Science Museum in St. Paul for our two day brainstorm session. We were armed with tools essential for brainstorming: crayons, toys, pipe cleaners and other thingamajigs to keep our hands busy and our minds creative! I don’t think any of us could have anticipated the amount of ideas that would come flowing out! There weren’t many rules those two days, but the number one rule was “NO SHOOTING DOWN IDEAS.” It may have been the best rule ever invented, our ideas flowed easily, we built on each other’s ideas and made huge lists of possibilities. 

Half way through our time together, it came time to evaluate our ideas. We kept our problem statement and our customer tasks at hand and slowly narrowed the list down to 8 things we wanted to prototype later that day. We split into groups of two and each took an idea – we had 30 minutes to create our idea out of random craft materials and had to present it to the larger group. Later that afternoon we did the same thing with the other 4 ideas.

This photo sums up the craziness of our two days together.

All in all the two days was a huge success, we have some great ideas that we’ll be able to quickly prototype and test, and move forward with if successful. I feel like we were able to really get the most out of our two days together because everything we did was steeped in customer research and data.

If you want to see our first product idea, head to the commons with your smart phone, if you don’t have a smart phone, borrow one from a friend! All you need is a QR code reader – on the windows near Mindy/Carol there are QR codes – check them out and let me know what you think!

Also – if you ever have any innovative ideas, feel free to send them my way. I’m keeping a list and we’ll continue to review it and add to it! I’m sure I’ll be calling on a number of you in the next few months to help with different innovation brainstorms, prototypes, tests, etc.! This is a really exciting time for Saint Mary’s Press – our customers are at the heart of innovation!

Thank you to those that joined me on the retreat and helped come up with some amazing ideas and thank you to all those who’ve gone on site visits.  The data we're collecting is worth more than we can imagine – the little gems of information from each visit lines up with other visits and innovation is formed!

What We Can Learn From Paper Prototyping

A guest post by Megan Williams, Web Marketing Specialist at Saint Mary's Press.

Recently Jason Shawley (Digital Manager at Saint Mary's Press) and I facilitated two separate user experience testing sessions with one of SMP's newest products in development, the Bible App for the iPad. Within the scope of the testing we managed to glean several nuggets of wisdom from a novice perspective that will, we hope, serve to aid the next wave of iteration and future facilitators.

Something that struck us about our experience with UX (user experience) testing, foremost, was how well paper prototyping works.  Although we tested a high-tech product using a low fidelity technique (paper), resulting feedback was just as effective. We also learned how delightfully insightful users are when it comes to carrying out tasks.

Many users pepper the experience with body language and/or starts-and-stops indicating taste or distaste for certain functions. Utterances such as” yuck”,” hmm’ and “ugh” were superb indicators that an intended task had strayed too far from what the prototype made possible. Likewise, expressions of delight when encountering an unexpected feature or ease of use helped us to identify when we were on the right track.

Jason, as facilitator, delighted in how easy it was for a person doing the testing to pretend they were using an actual iPad despite the paper prototype given to them.  Although paper may seem like a waste of time when dealing with high-tech products, the reality is it’s a perfect place to start due to the low-cost and turnaround.  Results from low fidelity testing in the beginning can have a big impact on the final high-tech product.  With this knowledge we will continue to embrace and make use of paper prototyping within the future. 

As "recorder of notes" during the usability testing sessions, my curiosity was piqued by what seemed like a universal desire of users to do the test “right.” This recognition as facilitators invites us to begin a testing session by creating an environment that encourages users to approach the tasks with a “beginner’s mind” while fostering exploration and championing curiosity.

Something surprising we learned from the experience is that testing around a half dozen users really can give you sufficient and concrete feedback. Anything above and beyond five or six test subjects and the results begin to level out. Another point of recognition is how innate it is to want the user to succeed. It was difficult to not intervene in the process and allow a user to find their own way when it was clear they were struggling to complete a task and waiting for a prompt to help move them forward.

One thing we discovered  that we would like to understand more of coming out of the experience is how to better lead a user through a test while adapting to the ripples of the unknown questions and obstacles that might emerge while conducting a paper prototype test, questions and obstacles that signal expectations that seem innate to human behavior.

The pinnacle of doing anything well in life is finding the Zen within it. By learning how to better facilitate a testing session, and ensuring a user’s comprehension of the tasks asked of them, we can be confident that the results and future iterations will develop a user-friendly product the consumer will trust and devote their loyalty to for the long haul. Finding the Zen in user experience testing, or allowing the Zen in UX to find us, most certainly will ensure this success.

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To understand more about what paper prototyping is, visit http://www.paperprototyping.com/what.html

UCD Spotlight: Wisdom from Anselm Academic

This week, and every so often, we will showcase a concrete example of user-centered design in practice. Each showcase will shed light on an area, a division,  a project team or a person and their practice of user-centered design.

As I mentioned in last week's blog, Anselm Academic (a company aimed at the college market but housed in the same building as Saint Mary's Press) just finished usability testing on a College Study Bible.  The last two blogs highlighted what Anselm did in the usability test.

This week, we shine the spotlight on the Anselm staff so they can share their learnings with the rest of us.  

We asked the team, "What wisdom did you glean from this experience of usability testing?"

Kristi (Design Coordinator, Anselm Academic): 

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was how integral each step is and how each one builds on the previous. So, it is important to complete each step thoughtfully, before moving on to the next. When each step is completed well, the next step falls into place much more easily."

"One thing I would recommend to other teams engaged in this process is- to take time and care when phrasing the tasks in the script to make sure they are not leading in any way, but to also make sure that they will get at the nugget of information you are searching for…allow time to “test the test,” revise if necessary and then re-test. "

   PJ (Director of Marketing, Anselm Academic)

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was- the affirmation of some of our suppositions about the product juxtaposed against the “absolute AHA moments” in recognizing something we thought would be used by the customer wasn’t used at all."

"Something that surprised me from this was the reality that what professors say they do or believe about delivering concepts in the college classroom didn’t usually match their actions when teaching students."

"Something I realized from this process is the importance of incorporating usability testing into the flow of our product development.  There’s an old adage that says you’ll usually fail in life if you are too self-centered.   I have learned it is essential that we gather user-centered feedback along with our own ideas to create successful, marketable products that are engaging and accessible for the customers we serve."

Penny  (Administrator, Anselm Academic)

"I was surprised to see how useful UCD testing really is--even though we have experts and professionals developing these products--until you see your end user actually work with it, you don’t realize the final impact of the usability of the product.  Interesting!”

Brad (Director of Sales & Acquisitions, Co-Director of Anselm Academic)

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was how important the classroom observation was. We learned that what a teacher says they do in the classroom is not what they actually do. This was great insight into the type of product we might look to develop. " 

   

"Something I realized from this process is how marketing is also enriched through the usability process.  By doing usability testing on a key competitor product, we were able to see how to pitch our own product."

 Maura (Managing Editor, Anselm Academic)

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was how much a motivated team can accomplish in a short period of time! Anselm’s recent experience also reconfirmed my sense of the value of site visits and usability testing for understanding our customers."

    Jerry (Editorial Director; Co-Director, Anselm Academic)

"Something I realized from this process is how big a difference the “little things” make in usability—the precise wording for a label on a map; the exact location of a table in a book; the confusion that can result if the smallest detail is neglected."

"The thing that struck me most about this experience was the unique value of watching and listening to the person who actually uses a text. There’s nothing like it."  

Anselm, Dears and Meels, Oh My!

There are the deer that are hunted and the meals that are eaten. 

But there is another kind of DEAR and another type of MEEL that relates to the world of our customers and usability.
 
Anselm Academic encountered both of these usability versions of DEARS and MEELS as they conducted their recent usability testing of the College Study Bible

In usability, DEAR is the acronym for:

• DISCOVERY: where we discover the unique tasks our customers carry out
• EVALUATION: where we test those tasks to see how easily they can be done
• ANALYSIS: where we analyze what happened
• REPORT: where we report the findings

How this played out in a real project:

Anselm did site visits to DISCOVER what their customer’s tasks were.  Then they EVALUATED those tasks through a usability test.  They then ANALYZED what happened in the usability test and REPORTED out the summary findings. Finally, based on all of this, the team then recommended specific changes that should be made to make the Bible easier for users to navigate.

In the usability test, team Anselm was testing, marking, analyzing and reporting a number of different aspects of the customer’s use of the product. They were looking at the MEELS of the product:

• Memorability:  Can users remember where things are located in the product
• Errors: Do users make mistakes when using the product because it’s not functioning the way they expect or need it to?
• Efficiency: Can users carry out their tasks quickly?
• Learnability: Was it easy for the users to figure out how to use the product, how to follow the structure/organization that is set up in the product?
• Satisfaction: Were users satisfied in their use of the product?

In concrete terms, Anselm was testing to see if users could REMEMBER where things were located in the Bible based on the design, navigation and organization helps that were currently provided in the Bible. They wanted to see how many ERRORS users made and what design, navigation, organization helps could be provided to decrease errors. Anselm was testing to see how EFFICIENTLY users could carry out tasks and navigate around the Bible. The team wanted to understand how easily users could LEARN how to use the Bible and the navigation and organization helps available. Finally, the team wanted to understand how satisfied the users were with their experience of the Bible.

If you haven't heard about Anselm's recent experience and learnings, I encourage you to check in with PJ, Kristi, Brad, Jerry, Maura or Penny and ask them about their experience. There is much we could learn from their recent immersion in this process.

Congrats Team Anselm!

Tread, Traction and User Experience

Yesterday evening, I took my car in to have my tires inspected. The person who looked at  my tires said, “You probably have a month or two of ware left on the tires”.  In Heather time, this translates into, “Change them now, because it will be off your radar in one or two months”.

So, what do tires have to do with user experience?  More than you think.  Tires have treads and treads are pretty amazing when you think about it. It's all about traction, right?

World English Library defines traction as the adhesive friction between a wheel and a surface, as between a driving wheel of a motor vehicle and the road.

The purpose of the treads (in laymen’s terms of course) is to give the car traction on the road. Similarily, the knowledge we have about our customers is like that tread on the tire, i.e. it gives us traction, and keeps our (project) wheels gripping the road and going in the direction we need to be going. 

Make sure that you and your project team are checking the tread on your project tires.  Does your team have the customer knowledge & insight necessary to have exceptional traction on the road ahead?  If so, you are on the way to delivering delightful simplicity to your customer. 

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This article is part of a series:

User Experience Tips and Tricks Tied to Topics You Wouldn't Expect

Are Usability and Company Profits Linked?

Yesterday, Anselm Academic, the college division of Saint Mary’s Press, conducted a usability test. In preparing for the test, the team had to do a lot of prep work.  They conducted site visits, observed college classrooms, talked to instructors and students, conducted a task analysis, created a test plan and script, and next they will be analyzing their tests and making a final report of their learnings.

Preparing for and conducting a usability test is hard work.  And it is time consuming work. It is work that can lead one to wonder, “How is usability linked to sales? Will this affect the bottom line?  Does usability work help to generate revenue?  Is it tied to increases in sales? If so, how?”  

Earlier on in this blog’s life, I shared the video on the ROI of usability. 

I’d like to share another video with you now from a company using Morae, the same software we use for usability testing here at Saint Mary’s Press.  The title of the video is The Guthrie Group Helps Improve Process and Profits With Morae.

To give you a little background:  “Morae is a leading usability software that removes the guesswork from your decisions and helps you make products people love. [It allows you to] record user interactions, efficiently analyze results, and instantly share your findings with anyone, anywhere.” –Techsmith (creators of Morae)

To date, Saint Mary’s Press has focused its efforts of usability and therefore its use of Morae within the realm of product development, i.e. on measuring and then improving the unique interactions inherent in a customer’s use of a particular product.  

The video I'm going to share with you highlights how a company uses usability testing and Morae for a purpose distinct from ours, and that is to improve the transactional process. Despite the distinct use of Morae, the principle and the link between usability and sales is clear.

Listen to what Zach Guthrie, president of The Guthrie Group, has to say about improving process and profits with Morae: http://www.techsmith.com/morae-casestudy-tgg.html