Effective UI Effective UI Jonathan Anderson, John McRee, Robb Wilson, and the EffectiveUI Team Beijing · Cambridge · Farnham · Köln · Sebastopol · Taipei · Tokyo Effective UI by Jonathan Anderson, John McRee, Robb Wilson, and the EffectiveUI Team Copyright © 2010 EffectiveUI. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472. O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles (http://my.safaribooksonline.com). For more information, contact our corpo- rate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or [email protected]. Editor: Steve Weiss Proofreader: Nancy Kotary Development Editor: Jeff Riley Indexer: Julie Hawks Production Editor: Rachel Monaghan Cover Designer: Karen Montgomery Copyeditor: Genevieve d’Entremont Illustration and Interior Design: The EffectiveUI Team Printing History: February 2010: First Edition. 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ISBN: 978-0-596-15478-3 [F] Contents Preface.....................................ix 3 Effective Planning and Requirements... 75 Uncertainty and the Unknown 77 1 Building an Effective UI....................1 The Humility of Unknowing 78 Understanding UX 4 The Weakness of Foresight and Planning 79 What Good UX Accomplishes 6 Friction in a Complex and Why Engagement and Good UX Matter 10 Peculiar System 81 The Elements of Engaging UX 11 Subjectivity and Change 87 Redefining Two Fundamental Terms 32 Lessons from Uncertainty and the Design 32 Unknown 89 Development 34 The Further You Are in the Project, the Wiser You Are 89 2 Building the Case for Better UX......... 37 Start Development As Soon As Possible 90 Why Now Is the Moment for UX 40 Written Functional Requirements and Motive 40 Specifications Are Inherently Flawed 90 Means 48 Commitments to Scope Are Untenable 92 Opportunity 50 Relish and Respect the Unexpected 92 Winning Support for Better UX 53 Intolerance of Uncertainty Is Intolerable 93 Stakeholders 53 Effective Requirements 94 Education 57 How Framework Requirements Are Built 97 Quantifying the Business Value 67 Reexamining the Three-Legged Stool 99 Materializing and Proving the Concept 67 Commitments You Can Live Up To 101 Other Strategies for Building Support 73 Effective Process 102 Development Methodology 103 4 Bringing Together a Team............... 113 Who Should Be Involved in the Research 182 The Project Leader 116 Finding Research Participants 184 Relationship to the Product 116 Determining the Research Sample Size 185 Relationship to the Stakeholders 117 Making Recordings 188 Relationship to the Project Team 119 Research Through Speaking with Users 190 Who Should Be the Project Leader 119 User Interviews 190 The Stakeholders 121 Structured Interview Techniques 191 Securing Authority 121 Research Through Direct Observation 193 Collaboration and Decision Making 124 Analyzing the Research Observations 196 The Characteristics of a Successful Project Team 125 Discovering Personas 196 Getting Professional Help 127 Weaving User Stories 198 Insourcing Versus Outsourcing 130 Discovering User Priorities 199 Guerilla User Research 200 5 Getting the Business Perspective......139 Stakeholder Buy-in Through Defining Success 141 User Research 202 Creating a Project Mission Statement 142 7 Initial Product Architecture............ 205 Determining Project Success Criteria 144 The Initial Product Architecture Team 208 Exercising Restraint 145 Contextual Scenarios 210 Applying the Pareto Principle 148 Mapping High-Level Workflows 213 What Not to Restrain 148 Sketching Low-Fi Visual Refocusing Product Objectives 149 Representations of Requirements 215 Omissions Aren’t Permanent 150 Examining Key Features and Describing the Product’s Users 151 Interactions 216 User Attributes 152 Setting a Style Vision 217 Exercises to Identify Key User Developing Nomenclature 221 Attributes 153 Technical Architecture 222 Creating Business Requirements 160 Getting a Lay of the Land 223 Defining “Requirement” 161 Making Platform and Framework Exercises to Develop Business Choices 223 Requirements 163 Understanding Data Requirements 224 Maintaining Stakeholder Buy-in 169 Mapping Interactions with Other Systems 225 6 Getting to Know the User............... 171 Finding Shortcuts Through Third-Party Valuing User Research 173 and Open Source Components 228 Combating Pressure to Skip Discovering Business Logic 229 User Research 175 Software Architecture in Big Design Key Concepts in User Research 177 Up Front (BDUF) 230 Empathy 177 Project Infrastructure Needs 232 User Goals Versus Product Features and Code Source Control 232 Tasks 178 Graphic Asset Management 233 Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research Methods 180 Testing Infrastructure and Environments 234 vi Contents 8 The Iterative Development Process... 235 9 Release and Post-Release.............. 263 Regarding “Process” 239 Managing Expectations 265 Iterations and Feedback 239 The Alpha and Beta Releases 266 The Scope of Iterations 243 Receiving Orderly Feedback 268 Prioritizing the Subjects of Iterations 245 Last-Minute Housekeeping 269 Finishing Iterations with Something User Documentation 270 Complete 246 And Champagne Corks Fly… 271 Estimating Iterations 247 Adoption 272 Basic Iterative Process 248 Post-Release 273 Mapping Progress and Feedback Across Review 274 Multiple Cycles 252 Measurement and Tracking 277 Increasing the Amount of Feedback 254 Iteration in Sub-Ideal Project Approaches 256 Afterword................................281 Strict Waterfall Process 257 Index.................................... 287 Iteration in a Big Design Up Front (BDUF) Process 261 Contents vii