Usability includes you
by Patrick Jones March 5, 2008
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This is a short diatribe against people and their expectations for what usability can do. To continue, when usability is incorporated into the development process, it is because you are measuring and assuring that what is developed meets basic usability criteria; however, it is not a panacea nor impervious to, shall we say, a general population of the uninformed and challenged. Considering your users is due diligence for your development but it comes with no guarantees. It is merely another way to produce the best possible document, service, or product and to diminish the return of an unusable, error-producing, ill-pleasing, "unlearnable" thing that has to be reworked, shelved, or worse, permitted to exist in its undesired state. The irony is that your general population of users who give you inputs will be the same users that break or misuse your product. This might seem negative and maybe a bit harsh, but usability does not guarantee a perfect result. For example, the voting machines used in some cities of Ohio where tested. While the machines have their technological faults, according to my sources, they where also designed and tested against usability standards, at least on the user interface level. So, buttons where clearly marked, errors could be easily fixed, the voting experience was a ballet of process. Still errors were produced because the users failed to do the last "clearly" marked step, which was to confirm their selections. The result was a vote that could not be counted. Every failure is, to my mind, of the same magnitude – there can be no “lesser” or “bigger” failure. So why is usability important? Because it is your organization’s assumed responsibility to produce the very best that it can and usability as a process will guarantee that; however, it will never account for everything in the realm of possibilities namely the, what did we call them, “the uninformed and challenged” users you so carefully considered. Think of it as a seatbelt, which saves lives, but not all lives. This is the salt in sugar: that in spite of best efforts, the users that you tried to incorporate and consider are going to be the ones who foil your efforts! That said, considering your users and their needs, is really what makes usability practical and successful. The alternative is to build it and hope that they will come, experience, and leave having had what you expected. -- |
