ID102 - Designing a World-Class User Experience for IBM Lotus Notes
Mary Beth Raven and Chris Reckling presented on why the Notes 8 client is how it is. MBR shared the 4 attributes of a world class user experience:
Visual Style
Raven shared why they used personas who use Notes in a specific context to achieve specific goals. She used my favourite story about the princess and the moon to explain that you have to get into the mind of your users. ( ISO 9241-11 anyone). With the help of surveys and study groups the usability team first settled on a colour schemes. After that with the help of wire frames the base layout was born. Taking the possibilities of implementation into account the Notes8 Beta as of today was born.
Usefulness
A lot of steps were involved here. A key point was not to phrase "the user can" but "In R8 Samantha can..", so the personas were used extensively. The step in detail:
Execution
Innovation
I think putting users on centre stage is a welcome departure from the featuritis of previous years towards better software.
What I liked
MBR rocks!
What I didn't like
IBM should have started doing this years ago
- Visual Style: the icons, the colors, the visual details
- Usefulness: day to day task oriented work rather than tool oriented
- Execution: Attention to detail, aspiration to details
- Innovation: Add new features to get the work done, faster, more accurate and enjoyable
Visual Style
Raven shared why they used personas who use Notes in a specific context to achieve specific goals. She used my favourite story about the princess and the moon to explain that you have to get into the mind of your users. ( ISO 9241-11 anyone). With the help of surveys and study groups the usability team first settled on a colour schemes. After that with the help of wire frames the base layout was born. Taking the possibilities of implementation into account the Notes8 Beta as of today was born.
Usefulness
A lot of steps were involved here. A key point was not to phrase "the user can" but "In R8 Samantha can..", so the personas were used extensively. The step in detail:
- Prioritize features starting from 4000 feature request: Focus groups, surveys, Sticky notes exercises
- Design and hold Design Reviews: Online documents, Paper specs, Prototypes, Reviews, Reviews, Reviews
- Users First Program: Visit customers
- Usability Test, and Re-Test > 475 test so far.
- Blog and gather feedback
Execution
- Attention to detail
- Delighting users with the experience
- Fix usability bugs
- Design Review
- Usability Testing
Innovation
- Work closely with the IBM Research Lab (contributed Activity centric computing)
- Usability test on new features
- New features: Conversations, Filter dialogue, Sidebars (put things into your peripheral vision --- I want a wide screen now!), Grouped tabs
I think putting users on centre stage is a welcome departure from the featuritis of previous years towards better software.
What I liked
MBR rocks!
What I didn't like
IBM should have started doing this years ago
Posted by Stephan H Wissel on 22 January 2007 | Comments (0) | categories: Lotusphere