Collaborative Strategies for Designing Successful Web Sites Adaptive Path Lane Becker Peter Merholz Jeffrey Veen

Collaborative Strategies forDesigning Successful Web Sites

Adaptive Path

www.adaptivepath.com/workshops/tour2002/

Lane Becker <[email protected]>

Peter Merholz <[email protected]>

Jeffrey Veen <[email protected]>This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Tour 2002 Adaptive Path www.adaptivepath.com 2

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Hi,

I'm remodeling my kitchen and buying new appliances. While researching my decisions, I visited your site to see how your refrigerators compared to other manufactures. One of the most important factors in my decision is the amount of energy the product uses -- but I couldn't find this information listed on your site anywhere. Am I not looking in the right place?

-jeff


Dear Jeff,

Thank you for visiting the Maytag Home Page. We welcome the opportunity to assist you.

Please forward your model number and we can send the energy rating for the model.

Eric

Maytag Customer Service


Eric,

I think you may be misunderstanding my query. I'm interested in buying a new refrigerator. One of my key decision-making points is the energy rating of the product. I'd like to be able to see the rating of all of your models on their respective product description pages.

-jeff


Dear Jeff,

Unfortunately, the energy ratings are not listed on the web page. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Jennifer



Jennifer,

Right. I realize that. That's why I mentioned it. It's a pretty crucial decision-making point for a lot of people (including me).

You should consider having your Web team add it to the standard product page.

-jeff


Dear Jeff,

Thank you for your comments regarding the Maytag.com Home Page.

In the future, please include the model number of your Maytag appliance so that we may assist you more efficiently.

Scott



Defining Experience Design

• Functional DesignThe design of systems that support end-users' tasks and goals– User research– Information Architecture– Interaction Design

• Communication DesignThe design of how these systems are expressed to the user– Interface design– Visual design– Content strategy


Good design means following

rules! My rules!


Top Ten “Guidelines” for Homepage Usability

1. Include a One-Sentence Tagline

2. Write a Window Title with Good

Visibility in Search Engines and

Bookmark Lists

3. Group all Corporate Information in

One Distinct Area

4. Emphasize the Site's Top High-

Priority Tasks

5. Include a Search Input Box

6. Show Examples of Real Site

Content

7. Begin Link Names with the Most

Important Keyword

8. Offer Easy Access to Recent

Homepage Features

9. Don't Over-Format Critical

Content, Such as Navigation

Areas

10. Use Meaningful Graphics

Following are ten things you can do to “increase the usability” of your homepage and thus “enhance” your website's “business value.”

Jakob Nielson Alertbox, May 12, 2002 http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020512.html



A Different Perspective

• There is no “One True Way” or “Four-Step Process”

• The Web may have best practices for user experience design,

but it is too early to depend on them exclusively

• The separation between functional design and communication

design is messy at best


But won’t the rules limit my creativity...?


‘Obeying rules without an understanding of the reasons behind them creates an approximation of competence which leaves one vulnerable to the exceptions.’

Sea Kayaker's Deep Trouble


About the Project

• iRemodel.com – leading home improvement portal

• Features:– Tutorial Content for users new to home improvement– Idea File– Product database with comparison engiine– Contractor/architect locator– Budget estimator

• New features:– Kitchen design “center”– Contractor’s management application


To develop an experience based on the patterns inherent in your stuff that empowers users to accomplish their goals.

Our goal...


It’s how we get a pile of stuff...


...into a structured experience.


This includes labeling...

Squares Triangles CirclesSquares CirclesTriangles


...and navigation systems...


...that are intuitive to users.

Squares Triangles Circles

Ah Ha!


But! Not all users have the same goals.

Shapes! Colors!


So, good design lets many users...


...access lots of content...


...in many ways.


But this isn’t always as easy as it sounds...


What do you call this?


“Coke” “Pop” “Soda”

Is it Coke? Pop? Soda?

http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~almccon/pop_soda/


But wait! There’s more...

• fizz

• fris

• phosphate

• bubble-water

• lolly-water

• Tingle Fizz Fuzz

• mixer

• sweet drink

• tonic

• sodie

• cocola

• soder

• dopes


Design faces global issues...

Colors?

Colours?

¿De Colores?

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?





Design faces accessibility issues...

Colors

???




Design suffers from jargon...

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Shapes WebBeansShapes WebBeanstmtm




Design suffers from politics...

CEOUser

Excellent!???


Customers used to interact directly with departments...

Big Corp

A B C D E


But that doesn’t translate to the Web at all...

? ? ? ? ?

Big Corp

A B C D E



Design must also be extensible...

!?!





We don’t even know what else they are doing…

!!!


The Two Parts of IA, Diagrammed

Surface architecturecomes from Mental Model

Deep architecture comes from the Content Model


Gather Assumptions & Requirements

Develop Personas

Understand Goals & Tasks

Design Information Architecture

Prioritize Features

Validate Usability

Prototypes & Patterns

Build Content Model

Analyze Competition

Design Interaction


So who are these people, your “users”?


Remember: You Are Not Your Audience

• You do not– see things like they do– know what they know– want what they want– work how they work

• This is critical information when designing a product

So how do you figure out all of these things?…


…User Research!

• The study of what makes peoples’ lives difficult and how to

make them easier

– NeedsWhat people need to make their life easier

– DesiresWhat they want (does not equate to what they need)

– AbilitiesWhat they can understand and do

– MethodsHow they do things now


Conceptual Research (“need”)

• Timing: Early in the design process

• Purpose: Investigates needs and methods

• Techniques:– Task Analysis/Contextual Inquiry– Surveys– Ethnography

Outcome: Encourages innovative thought at the very

outset of design


Preference Research (“like”)

• Timing: Mid-process

• Purpose: Investigates desires, expectations, priorities

• Techniques:– Surveys– Focus Groups– Interviews– Card sorting

Outcome: Ensures that design solutions appeals to the

desired audience


Ability Research (“do”)

• Timing: End of the process (and the beginning of the next iteration).

• Purpose: Investigates abilities and reactions

• Pre-Launch Techniques:– Prototypes (paper and mockup)– Usability Testing

• Post-Launch Techniques:– Log analysis– Customer feedback analysis

Outcome: Ensures that design solutions are usable for

the desired audience


User Research in the Design Process – Practical

• Linear process

• One big step for each type of user research (conceptual,

preference, ability)

• Handed off at the end, as opposed to beginning the cycle

again

Ideally, the process is collaborative and iterative...


About These Methodologies

• Scalability: Many of these techniques can be used tomorrow,

or as a 6-month project.

• Live it: User research, information architecture and good

design are not something to consider doing every so often.

• Balance: Too much reliance on methodologies and technique

can be as bad as not using them at all.

Remember: Be open minded!



Develop Personas



Prioritize Features

Validate Usability


Build Content Model

Analyze Competition

Design Interaction


What is Discovery?

• Useful and often overlooked

• Tool for understanding business needs and context (rather than user needs and context)

• An early opportunity to head off problems before they happen

• Answer important questions about the project:

– Why do it? (Business/Marketing purpose)– What does it do? (Scope/Definition)– Who cares about it? (Stakeholders/Decision Makers)


Why Do Discovery?

• No matter how good your solution is, if it doesn’t fit

within the existing expectations and processes of your

organization, it will fail

• Remember: A sick body will reject a healthy organ if the body

isn’t prepared properly first


10 Roadblocks Discovery Can Help You Avoid

1. Project gets bogged down in approvals

2. Your assumptions about the goals of the project are way off base

3. You discover half-way through that the scope is much greater than you imagined

4. Feature creep

5. Disenfranchised people become obstacles

6. Nobody listens to you…even though you’re supposedly “in charge”

7. Nobody understands what you’re saying (maybe because you don’t have the same understanding of the project)

8. Someone important and powerful (e.g., the CEO) hates the final solution a week before launch

9. Your final solution, though cool, doesn’t solve the original problem

10.Your proposed solution can’t be implemented


Purpose of Discovery (Soft)

• Understand the context in which you are working– Political landscape– Stakeholders– Decision structures (who/how/when)– Business mandates– Technologies

• Build relationships– Introduce yourself– Explain what you do– Get to know everyone involved (listen)– Communicate your goals internally as well as externally


Purpose of Discovery (Concrete)

• Define project criteria– Stakeholders– Definitions– Scope – Business mandate

• Formulate strategies– Resources– Methods– Process– Schedule– Budget


How this Affects You

• Answers these questions:– What is your relationship with your organization?– How effectively do you communicate your value to the key

stakeholders on your project?

• Develops these skills:– Learn the company language (jargon not buzzwords)– Understand the decision-making environment you're

working in


Potential Roadblocks to Doing Discovery

• Schedule pressure

• Stakeholders don’t see the value

• Lack of access to key players (distance, vacation, schedule

conflicts, etc.)


Methods for facilitating meetings

• Always prepare, even (especially) when brainstorming

• Use only open questions:

• Make meetings into active working sessions

Open:

- Who?

- What?

- Where?

- When?

- Why?

- How?

Closed:

- Is?

- Can?

- Will?

- Do?

- Should?

- Have?


Method: Kickoff Meeting

• Who: Everybody you can get together in the conference room

• Purpose:– Introduce yourself, team, and the stakeholders– Explain the project– Let stakeholders know how they will be involved– Establish working relationships; get the team “on board”

• Form: Presentation and discussion

• Timing: Beginning of discovery

• Content: Goals, team, process, schedule, and deliverables

• Leave-behinds: Project plan (draft only), presentation slides


Method: Project Sponsor Interviews

• Who: Who’s signing the check?– The most senior person or people who approved the project, and

their peers

• Purpose:– Understand political context– Define decision process– Understand business imperative and goals– Learn what other departments should be included and how

• Form: One-on-one conversations

• Timing: After kickoff

• Leave-behinds: Project plan (draft only)


Method: Stakeholder Group Sessions

• Who: Key stakeholders

• Purpose:– Discover expectations for the project– Discuss pain points, features– Make people feel involved– Establish cross-departmental communication among stakeholders

• Form: Similar to focus groups– Open, brainstorming– Smaller, intimate

• Timing: Soon after kickoff

• Leave-behinds: Notes, email


Method: Stakeholder One-on-Ones

• Who: Anyone you can corner for at least 15 minutes

• Purpose:– Learn details about the project– Learn the “truth” about the organization– Let people know that they can talk to you (i.e., listen!)– Venting – Talk through definitions, goals, methods, processes– Solidify requirements and discover potential roadblocks– Identify existing documentation

• Form: Informal conversations

• Timing: After kickoff

• Leave-behinds: Notes, email


Method: Review of Existing Documentation

• Gather and review previous materials – any documentation

that seems relevant. It might be: – Server logs– Previous product specs– Usability or other research– Explanation of key technologies

• Even if there’s nothing to review, showing interest will go a

long way toward establishing relationships


Exercise: Sketch Assumptions

• Without sharing, sketch the product as quickly as you can:– Front page showing features– Scribble out the top page of the kitchen design application– You only have 10 minutes. Don’t design! Just draw!


Discovery Deliverables Vary

• Summarize your findings for distribution to the stakeholders

and/or project sponsor– Lets people review what they’ve said and correct as necessary– Review of docs will show that you’re leveraging prior investments– Contents include business goals, any mandatory features,

assumptions, definitions

• Formal documentation: MRD, PRD, Project Brief, etc.



Develop Personas



Prioritize Features

Validate Usability


Build Content Model

Analyze Competition

Design Interaction


Competitive Analysis

• A thorough deconstruction of your competitors’ Web sites

• Similar to market and customer research, but with an

emphasis on functional implementations

• Not simply limited to direct competitors


Identifying Competitors

• Start with known rivals– See: marketing plan, business plan, etc.

• Use online tools to broaden scope– “What’s related,” Alexa, browse online directories

• Look for other sites with similar features, even if they’re in a

completely different industry– Try to identify conventions– Search, navigation, interface widgets, etc.

• Use analyst reports to identify industry trends– Forrester, Jupiter, et al.


The Competitive Matrix

• List features against competitors in a spreadsheet (build off of

your findings from the current state analysis)

• Use online tools to help fill in the technical details– www.websitegarage.com– www.siteowner.com



• Build spreadsheet with feature-set against competitors’ sites

• Fill in short descriptions of similarities and differences

• Point out radically different solutions

• Use principles of Heuristic Evaluation



• Feature set and content types

• Interface characteristics– Navigation vocabulary– Renderings (Tabs, Pull-down menus, etc.)

• Technology choices– Browser targeting– Advanced CSS or Javascript usage

• Performance Statistics– Bandwidth usage and rendering speed for page types

• Meta Tag Contents



Develop Personas



Prioritize Features

Validate Usability


Build Content Model

Analyze Competition

Design Interaction


What Is a Persona?

• A fictitious person for whom you are designing

• Represents the archetypal qualities of your audience

• Plural: “personas” not “personae”– It’s ... well ... less pretentious


Why Personas?

• Provides focus for the design– Talk about “Lori” not “the user”

• Humanizes the design– Name them

– Have photos of them (corbis.com, images.google.com)

• Remarkably effective for bringing user-centered design into an

organization– Turn personas into big posters, place throughout organization


Developing Personas

Start with market research and segmentation

• Demographic– Age, Gender, Occupation

• Psychographic– Goals, tasks, motivation

• “Webographic”– Net usage and experience, gear, usage habits, favorite sites


Personas Are Not:

• Demographic ranges– “18-34 year old college educated females making $50K”

• Job Descriptions– “IT managers in Fortune 1000 with purchasing power for routers”

• Your CEO– “Mr. Burns wants to be able to use his WebTV on the site”


Personas Are:

• Stereotypes– This isn’t an exercise in politically correct thinking– Edge cases can lead you off track, e.g. male nurses, private pilots

• Design targets, not sales targets

• Tools for thinking about features and functions, not character

studies


Persona Chart

Steven Joy and Eric

Age36

OccupationDesign/Build Remodeler, CGR.

Net usage30-60 min day, cable modem, my.yahoo.com,

cnn.com, theonion.com

GearDell Pentium III, 750Mhz, 17”

Palm Vx

Trigger for actionResponding to client call… Not so much

“triggered” as it is Steven’s job.

Ultimate GoalTo make the client very happy with a kitchen

remodel while pocketing a sizable profit.

Familiarity/AnxietySteven is comfortable using the computer and

the Web for job-related needs.


Scenarios

• Stories of personas engaged in tasks or achieving goals

• Narrative structure enforces “making sense”

• The flow of writing feels more “real” than the discrete

collections of tasks and attributes


Writing Scenarios

• Keep the task focused – 4 to 5 paragraphs

• Incorporate the persona’s environment

• Make them messy

• Try not to design while writing

• Write three or four scenarios per persona


Benefits of Scenarios

• Allows for a holistic description of the user’s experience– Context, context, context– From inside the user’s head to the environment surrounding them

• Excellent communication tool – all humans understand stories– Works well across multi-disciplinary teams

• Fleshes out persona’s “existence”


Potential Pitfalls

• The Scenario Where Everything Works Like Magic

• Digressing too much

• Too much response from a designed system



Develop Personas



Prioritize Features

Validate Usability


Build Content Model

Analyze Competition

Design Interaction


How Do You Create a Design that Users Can Understand?

1. Figure out what users need: develop a mental model

2. Figure out what you have: develop a content model

3. Match them up

4. Use it to create your site design• Make a high-level structure based on mental model• Make the detailed structure based on the content model


What is a Mental Model?

How an audience thinks about and approaches

its tasks and goals

(…separate from a Web experience)



What is a Mental Model?

Grocery Shopping

Prepare shopping list

Look in fridgeTalk to spouse

Walk the store aisles

Does the car need gas?

How much time do I have?

Plan meals

Look for discountsClip coupons


What Does a Mental Model Look Like?

Our Mental Model Diagram looks like this, with tasks arranged

into ever-broader groupings:

Refine Requirements

Find Out What OtherPeople Say

Set TechnologyRequirements Get Proposals

Find Out High-LevelInformation

Find Vendors

Get Input from Peoplewithin Company

Research CorporateNeeds

UnderstandExistingProcess

Determine theROI

Set Requirements

Set FeatureRequirements

Set ReportRequirements

Set DataStorage

Requirements

Set SecurityRequirements

Set IntegrationRequirements

Solicit End-User Input for

Features

Get Buy-Infrom KeyPlayers

Get Buy-Infrom IT

DepartmentFind Vendors

Write Requestsfor Proposals

ReadProposals

Get Input fromOther

Customers

Read VendorMarketingMaterials

DistrustMarketingMaterial

Read ReviewsAttend

Conferences

Explore Web-Based

Solutions

ExploreWirelessSolutions

RefineRequirements

Based onResearch

Research the ProductsResearch the Needs


Ultimate Goal

• A design that corresponds to your users’ mental models…





Plan mealsLook for discounts

Clip coupons


Ultimate Goal, Pt 2

• A design that corresponds to your users’ mental models…

• …that also meets your business’ needs





Plan mealsLook for discounts

Clip coupons

$


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Plan Design

Design WorkPlan

Design IdeasArticles

House PlansLibrary

Kitchen LayoutTool

Lighting LayoutTool

Pre-designedKitchen

Templates

Design Work Plan

Work with CADDrawings

Use Simple 3DDesign Tools

Manage CADPackage

Print Plans

ReuseDrawings fromPast Projects

Kitchen LayoutTool

Lighting LayoutTool

Pre-designedKitchen

Templates


House PlansLibrary


Plan Design

Design WorkPlan


House PlansLibrary

Kitchen LayoutTool

Lighting LayoutTool

Pre-designedKitchen

Templates

Ah Ha!


Why Perform Task Analysis?

• Helps you figure out what features are important to your

users, and what they would call those features

• Ensures that the design meets those user requirements as

well as the business requirements

• Provides a way to trace back all aspects of the interface to the

user’s task flow

• Goal: To remove the phrase “I think” from discussions about

what your users need

• So that you can create a Mental Model Diagram, which is

really cool


1. Find Some Users

• Start immediately: the better the subjects, the better the

outcome

• Getting started tomorrow: friends, family, coworkers– Pros: cheap, easy– Cons: bias (they may know too much), not close enough to the real

target audience

• Some do-it-yourself options:– Existing user base, customer support inquiries, advertise on

existing site– User groups, email discussion lists– Traditional market research means: classified ads, etc.


Finding Users: Let the Pros Do It

• Better yet, get the budget to use a recruiting agency– Pros: can get people who know nothing about the product, can get

people who are exactly your audience, can recruit people in a variety of geographic locales

– Cons: money

• In San Francisco:Jonathan Gauntlett at G Focus [email protected](415) 928-2795


Writing a Screener

• A simple script to weed out subjects

• Write 20 questions that narrow in on who you’re after

• Order questions from generic to specific

• Be very clear and specific

• Avoid jargon


2. Conduct Interviews

• Use “ethnographic inquiry” techniques – Encourage open answers, rather than to lead the interviewee in

any preconceived direction– Use predefined questions as prompts in a conversation, not a

verbatim script– Allow the interviewee to direct the flow of conversation

• Interview about 5 people per audience type

• Prepare verbatim transcripts, if possible.

Yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak kak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak yak...


Ask good questions

• Focus on experience, not extrapolation

• Concentrate on immediate experience

• Be nonjudgmental

• Make questions open-ended

• Avoid binary questions

Open:- Who?

- What?- Where?- When?- Why?- How?

Closed:- Is?- Can?- Will?- Do?- Should?- Have?


3. Analyze the Transcripts

• Scan interview transcripts for ‘tasks’

• Copy each task to the atomic task table

• Notice patterns across users. Group similar atomic tasks

together under one task name

• Adjust these groups as the patterns grow and shift

• Estimate 4 hours per interview


4. Organize Tasks into Groups

• Arrange the tasks into conceptual groups based on:– Steps the users described– Similarity of tasks

• Do this for each audience, if there are multiple audiences

• Compare results between audiences and combine if

appropriate

• Alphabetize groups for easy reference


A Collaborative Approach to Organizing Tasks

• Your team, an afternoon, a large blank wall, millions of Post-Its

• Read notes and make stickies– One person plucks tasks from the transcript, the other writes them

down on stickies– One task per sticky, different colored stickies depending on the

number of times different people mentioned the same task

• Make stickies and move them around until they make sense– Cluster similar stickies on the wall and give them a name– Cluster similar clusters together, and give them a name, too

• Voila! Tasks, Task Groups, and Mental Spaces


Walls of Stickies

Thanks: Marc Rettig


5. Build the Mental Model

• Arrange the mental spaces into a meaningful

order, if possible

• Name your mental spaces with verbs, not nouns

• Make it a team effort – one person makes a first

draft, but team members and clients should

participate in refining it

Design Work Plan

Work with CADDrawings

Use Simple 3DDesign Tools

Manage CADPackage

Print Plans

ReuseDrawings fromPast Projects

Kitchen LayoutTool

Lighting LayoutTool

Pre-designedKitchen

Templates


House PlansLibrary


Refine Requirements




Find Vendors




Determine theROI

Set Requirements



Set DataStorage

Requirements




Features


Get Buy-Infrom IT



ReadProposals

Get Input fromOther

Customers



Read ReviewsAttend

Conferences

Explore Web-Based

Solutions


RefineRequirements

Based onResearch


• Consists of: Tasks

• The individual tasks that people perform when attempting to

achieve a larger goal

What a Mental Model Looks Like


• Consists of: Task Groups

• Tasks for the same goal grouped together


Refine Requirements




Find Vendors




Determine theROI

Set Requirements



Set DataStorage

Requirements




Features


Get Buy-Infrom IT



ReadProposals

Get Input fromOther

Customers



Read ReviewsAttend

Conferences

Explore Web-Based

Solutions


RefineRequirements

Based onResearch



• Consists of: Mental Spaces

• The set of goals which together form a complete activity


Refine Requirements




Find Vendors




Determine theROI

Set Requirements



Set DataStorage

Requirements




Features


Get Buy-Infrom IT



ReadProposals

Get Input fromOther

Customers



Read ReviewsAttend

Conferences

Explore Web-Based

Solutions


RefineRequirements

Based onResearch



How a Mental Model is Used

• Existing site content from audit is “slotted” underneath to show where current site meets (or doesn’t) users’ needs.

Refine Requirements




Find Vendors




Determine theROI

Set Requirements



Set DataStorage

Requirements




Features


Get Buy-Infrom IT



ReadProposals

Get Input fromOther

Customers



Read ReviewsAttend

Conferences

Explore Web-Based

Solutions


RefineRequirements

Based onResearch


Proposal Template

Proposal Submission

Form

Online Discussion

Boards

• Content Slotting


End result: Horizon Chart

• Detailed map of your user’s everyday goals, and the individual tasks

they undertake to achieve them

• Shows where the existing site succeeds in meeting these goals; where

it overshoots; where opportunities for future development lie

• Excels as a reference document, a starting point for discussions about

user requirements

Purchase theSoftware

Get Approval

Consider Timeframeand Resources to

Implement

Set TechnologyRequirements


Find Vendors


Increase AwarenessAbout Vendors

Plan Project


PeopleSoftRe-Architecture

Business Services to User Mental ModelComparison v8

15-Jun-2001

Copyright 2001 Lot21

Legend

Conceptual Area

Conceptual Group

Copy

Widespread Concept

Infrequent Concept

Prospective Customer Mental Model

Peoplesoft Content and Services

Separate Site

Decide to Change

Decide Whether to Get a Solution

Business Service

ImproveBusinessProcess

Watch forTrends inIndustry

Receive Calls,Invitations from

Vendor

Form a Teamto do

Research


Determine theROI

IncreaseAwareness

About Vendors

PutPlaceholders

in Budget

Set Timeline

Set Requirements



Set DataStorage

Requirements




Features


Get Buy-Infrom IT


HireConsultant to

Help withResearch



AttendConferences

Explore Web-Based

Solutions


ConsiderTimeframe andResources to

Implement

Decide on Alternative

Purchase Partof Package

Use ExistingEnterprise-

Level Software

Write SolutionIn-House

Negotiate Contract

NegotiateContract

Get Approval

Get LegalApproval onContracts

Purchase theSoftware

Make DecisionResearch Information about ProductFind Out DetailedInformation

Read VendorTechnicalMaterials

Attend TrainingClasses Ahead

of Time

Get SeveralDemos

Distrust SalesPeople

Try OutSoftware In-

House

ConsiderMaturity of

Product

Research the Needs Make Purchase

Make Decision

Narrow DownVendors

PresentRecommenda-

tion

Make Decision

Implement theSoftware

Determine if ChangeWas a Success

Implement theSoftware

Announce theSoftware toEnd-Users

MeasureSuccess

ManageExpectations

AcceptResponsibilty

for Failure

ImplementSoftware

MeasureSuccess

Similar to Current Cust.

InteractiveDiagram

Super Demo

Product Tour

Landing Page

Landing Page(for events)

TechnicalWhite PaperDownload

BusinessSolutions

White PaperDownload

BusinessSolutions

White PaperDownload

Click-ThroughDemo

(businessdetails)

Click-ThroughDemo

(technicaldetails)

ProductModule Page

(Improved)Product

Module Page

Virtual Library(slides tosupport

presentation)

Events(Seminars,

Conferences,Tradeshows)

Events(Seminars,

Conferences,Tradeshows)

PressReleases(Products)

PeopleSoftNews Articles

(Products)

News(Mentions inthe Press)(Products)

eBusiness IQTest

eBusiness IQTest

Needs Improvement

Advisor ToolsWizard (future

version)

Advisor ToolsWizard (future

version)

Event Sites

Event Sites

PartnerProfiles

CustomerService Guide

CustomerLaunch

CyberSeminars

Registration

CyberSeminars

CyberSeminars

Registration

CyberSeminars

Product One-Sheets

Feature/Benefit

Descriptions

ComponentsDescriptions

Statements ofDirection

(Foundation)

TechnicalWhite Papers(Foundation)

InternetArchitectureInformation

(Foundation)

PeopleToolsInformation

Find Out ifFoundation is a

Match

Data Sheets

Statements ofDirection(Product)

InternetArchitectureInformation(Product)

FeatureStories, Ask

Expert

FeatureStories, Ask

Expert

FunctionalityLists perproduct

PeopleTalkNewsletter

Global SupportCenter Terms

and Conditions

PeopleSoftUniversity

Details

ProductConfigurators

ProductConfigurators

Implementa-tion Roadmap

View Statusof Account

Train the End-Users

KnowledgeCenter


Details

How toMeasure Your

Success

CyberSeminars

Consider VendorMatch

ConsiderReliabillity of

Vendor

ConsiderPersonality of

Vendor

ConsiderResponsive-

ness ofVendor

ConsiderGeographicLocation of

Vendor

PressReleases

(Corporate)

PeopleSoftNews Articles(Corporate)

News(Mentions inthe Press)

(Corporate)

About theCompany

ConsultingServices

Description(Implement)

Find Out AboutConsulting Services

Partner List(Consultants)

Find Out AboutHosting Services

Partner List(Hosting)

eCenterDescription

Case Studiesfor Partners

Find CertifiedPartners

Find Partners(by product or

solution)

Consider Support andTraining Options

ConsiderSupport and

TrainingOptions


eCenterCustomerSupport

Description


Details

Refine Requirements

RefineRequirements

Based onResearch

Get Proposals

WriteRequests for

Proposals

ReadProposals

Submit anRFP?

ProductBrochures

PackageSolutions

Descriptions

IndustrySolutions

Descriptions

BusinessProcessSolutions

Descriptions

Product LineDescriptions

Find Out HowComponents Relate

to One Another

CustomizedProduct

Descriptions


Get Inputfrom OtherCustomers

Read Reviews

CyberSeminars

Registration

CyberSeminars

CustomerProfiles byProduct orIndustry

Customer Listby Product or

Industry

News(Mentions inthe Press)(Products)

Consider Costs

ConsiderHardware

Costs

ConsiderSupport and

Training Costs

Consider Price


Consider f Users WillAccept System

Consider UserSkill Level

Assess Impacton Users

ConsiderProductUsability

UsabilityCase Studies(Testimonials)

Table LoadingSequesnce

Documentation

Install Guides

Hardware/Software

RequirementsDocumentation

About theCompany

About theCompany

Train End-Users

Make Time forResearch

Work on CompanyProjects

Work onCompanyProjects

Make Time forResearch

React to Office Environment

LeadManagementChat Pop-up

Get PersonalHelp FindingInformation

Find AllDownloadableContent in One

Place

PublicationsLibrary(Virtual)

Events Library(Archive)

News Library

Now Current Customer


Exercise: Building a Mental Model

• With your group, look for trends in remodeling tasks

• Organize tasks into conceptual groups

• Use stickies to label each group


Diagram Mental Model: Building Tips

• Arrange the mental spaces into a meaningful order, if possible

• Name your mental spaces with verbs, not nouns

• Make it a team effort – one person makes a first draft, but

team members and clients should participate in refining it



Develop Personas



Prioritize Features

Validate Usability


Build Content Model

Analyze Competition

Design Interaction


Thank You!

www.adaptivepath.com/workshops/tour2002/

[email protected]@[email protected]

Documents

Collaborative Strategies for Designing Successful Web Sites Adaptive Path Lane Becker Peter Merholz Jeffrey Veen