This deck introduces my work experience, orientation toward UCD and proven results at several companies meeting interesting interaction challenges.

1. User Research & Usability Geoff Willcher, Ph.D. Positioning myself at the intersection of People, Performance and Technology

3. Technical Proficiencies:

4. My UX Processes, Practices, and Capabilities

5. Adaptable

6. User Centered

7. Collaborative

8. Strategic Thinking:

9. What is a Product?

10. Information Architecture

11. Experiences in multiple domains

12. ID in the Trust domain

13. Building Nicole: MBS Personas

14. UCD: Driving Principles into Practice

15. Innovation in Research Tactics: More than 5 ways to Inform your Team

16. Challenging and Positive Work Experiences

17. Four Research Challenges: Evolving a Peak User Experience

18. Organizational Leadership

20. Brief Work History Eclypsis (Alltel) – Healthcare – Remaking the TDS 7000 (Char UI) Interaction modeling and prototyping, Object Modeling Tech, UML. Joint Application Design w/ medical professionals – switched p’types from B to wireframe. The Cobalt Group – Automotive Web B2B, B2C Installed Usability into company processes / practices Lead UX, won hearts and minds Structured Walkthrough, Labs, Design Consultations, Expert Review Worldspan – Agent Travel Reservations Networking and Installation group Network configuration observation and documentation Web Reservation Site Info Architecture, UI specs, design evaluations JHK / SAIC --Transportation Engineering Highway Traffic Control Center site visits Contextual Inquiry (CI), - Long Island Center – rebuild dispatcher workflow NCR Human Interface Technology Center Combustible Gas Detector Training project -- Ghostbusters Interviews, Surveys, Field observation, CI., Focus Groups, Project Mgt. MAPICS (formerly w/IBM) – ERP/MRP Icon Guidelines, UX Guide, Expert Review, UML, Project Mgt.

21. My UX Processes - Adaptable Goal – There is no one true method to apply to all usability / user research issues to gain perfect information. My goal is to apply good methods at the right time to the right issues to drive products toward optimal design. Objectives: Involve users early and often Find big obvious problems with fast inexpensive methods Iterate rapidly with converging methods Adapt the research to the information needs and stage of the project Approaches: Engage users – at work, on web, in person, conference, correspondence, lab… Observe real work in real settings, not only simplified lab type scenarios. Interact with users; get beyond sterile mechanical data collection methods. Front End Analysis and Ideation– put more time / money here to start off Research: Know the value of preference, pretend, performance and production studies Use data driven personas; integrate persona attributes into task flows and use case scenarios

22. My UX Processes – User Oriented Become a domain near expert – know the software domain Close contact with users – observe real work in real settings, not only simplified lab type scenarios. Interact with users; get beyond sterile mechanical data collection methods. Research – Use profile qualified participants Derive profiles from customer research Use data driven personas; integrate persona attributes into task flows and use case scenarios – MBS Sales / Marketing personas User Oriented Design – Design for the Real World Goal Based – what are the user’s goals with the system in this situation Task and Workflow based – how do they do their work / play / search / entertainment Context based – what are the situations in which they use the product; how do these affect design?

23. My UX Processes – Collaborative Integrate strongly with people in all roles for a product / service: PM, Dev, Test, UA, Planning, Marketing, Manufacturing, Support… UX doesn’t work in a silo, behind a wall or hide in an office UX is not limited to recommendations about software design; any change to any aspect of the product that will achieve UX goals is in scope. Usability, Design, UA are partners; UX is very involved with Design in developing Interface and Interaction design, UX brings knowledge of customer’s goals, tasks, interests, obstacles, patterns of work, work environments to the team UX and UA (writers) both evaluate text content, labels, instructions, etc. Goals -- Deliver highly consumable research findings to influence product team decisions and create effective products that win in the marketplace. Research – Express results as Patterns to influence multiple products / features Express user behavior as Patterns for better understanding across use cases and usage scenarios.

24. My UX Work Practices – Deliver Results Set expectations for everyone working with me. What they can expect from me. What I need from them to proceed. Honor my commitments with whatever effort is needed I’m known for putting in whatever hours are necessary to deliver good research in the time frame needed by the team. Define and scope my tasks I use project planning techniques to estimate tasks, assess resources, determine responsibilities, and define deliverables so the people who receive my work are satisfied. Be thorough while respecting time and resource constraints All work involves compromise with time, money and other resource constraints. I want to make good tactical choices for the right UX methods to investigate each problem in the context of its time frame, depth of research needed to make a wise decision. Be part of the team Support other UX researchers in the company. Integrate closely with product team members for specific products, and features. Understand and support the company’s business objectives.

25. My UX Work Capabilities Software development requires personal capabilities as well as technical knowledge and effective work practices. Work Independently – I’m confident and ask questions when I need to. Successfully handle End to End Research responsibilities Handle Ambiguity Define problems; delineate alternatives; develop solutions Manage Deadlines and Pressure Use project management techniques to estimate and schedule work. Prioritize work to meet deadlines and release pressure Innovate methods to deliver results in minutes, hours or days, not months on a fixed cycle Written Communication Skills Authored many UX study reports and in-depth reports Presentation Skills Confident presenter; have taught university classes, presented to product teams, given brown bags, etc.

26. Strategic Thinking: What is the Product? Listening to customer feedback, I discovered: The “product” is not the software in a box. The product is every aspect of the company’s service, support and technology at every customer touch point. The Product is: The software application The installation process The trouble shooting and help support The “3rd” party drivers, plug-ins and compatible applications – “nobody cares that a 3rd party made the driver. The user sees the problem as being with Vista and the Microsoft brand.” The advertising expectations set by our PR. The experience of opening the box – bloody fingers The competitor’s anti-product messages The customer’s past experience with other products by our company. Users perceive “the product” differently than product teams do. They don’t care how our company is organized, they only know that the software with our brand on the box isn’t working the way we promised. “User Experience” is a lot more than what you can study in a lab session.

27. Information Architecture Interaction Design Experiences Interaction of: The application with other applications The task flows within the product Users on pages to accomplish their goal on the page. Users with data by well chosen controls Experiences – full and collaborative responsibilities 14 + consulting experiences at Msft TWC Single sign on; Win 8 IE Download, Healthcare, Collaboration with PMs to build MsftLobi – Agile experience Feature behavior design in Msft CRM Cobalt Group – ID consults on Kia University, Parts Manager, Nitra Web Manager, etc. Expedia – getting out of silos; intro dashboard concept Worldspan – Architected the Dates and Destination site Worldspan – Architected network utility Captura – Architected version of Travel & Expense Mgt web tool Mapics – Product design for supply chain management module Alltel Healthcare – Interaction design for Medical Ordering module + GT Software – Architected Format Conversion Utility

28. Interaction Design: Trust Interactions between Consumers and Computers If customers don’t trust our sites and applications they won’t use them to achieve their goals. Pervasive problem across eCommerce, cloud computing, and all software tools: Performed deep dive research into human trust / distrust behaviors Developed in-depth understanding of user and consumer mental models Introduced interaction patterns to trust design conversations Interpreted precision trust definitions between humans to human, human to computer and computer to computer. Clarified this difficult concept to reduce conflict between different discipline teams. Experiences – full and collaborative responsibilities Interaction occurs within a Trust Space Interaction involves emotional – rational calculations Interaction is based on perceived intentions of the web site or other human party Design requires a framework for discussion to ensure a solution that doesn’t have gaps once built Interaction, design and UI patterns are a good way to grasp the flow of events Design proceeds from both user research data and from proven principles

29. Interaction Design in Trust Space TUX Context Trust Environment 4/1/2010 13 Outline Interaction Pattern Truster: who may give trust Trustee: who requests trust I might lose…; I might gain I might lose…; I might gain Decision to Risk Decision to Offer Trust Content

30. TUX Framework for Discussion 4/1/2010 14 Conversations, Concepts and Questions

31. TUX Framework: Haggle Interaction Pattern: Key Elements 4/1/2010 15 Truster Trustee Before Probabilistic Basis of Trust: You appear to have an identity: seller to the tourist trade; recommended by travel bureau… Vulnerability: You don’t know what things are worth: “Trust Me, I have something to offer. How about this?” During Basis for Exploitation: You appear to be a tourist: carrier of money to spend… Truster’s Counter-offer: “That isn’t what I need. How much for this other one?” Trustee’s offer: Exaggerated / False claim of value: “Priceless heirloom, from estate sale, I can let you have for fraction of its value…” Trust Content : Trust Decision and Action: “Now that looks like real art. What a value; It’s on sale because today’s Discount Day!? Here ‘s my charge card. “ After Haggle Trust Interaction Pattern

32. Designing Interaction from Principles 4/1/2010 Trust Defined for TUX 16

33. Dynamics – Sales / Marketing Personas Interactions Building Nicole and other Personas Created new; revised old Ensure data driven base Data from customer site visits Make the persona useful to the design / development effort. More than a picture on a wall. Personas: Microsoft Business Solutions - http://mbspersonas/ Role play personas in reviews Recruit personas for studies Represent persona as virtual agent

34. Innovation and Flexibility in Research Tactics: More than five ways to inform your team. NIST documents 35+ usability methods; too many groups throw every problem at lab research.. We need to get more data from more customers in more realistic situations with deeper investigation. A lot of research is superficial; as much as we can get in two days with the client. Opportunities to Explore: Customer / Partner panels: long term, high and low engagement Remote surveys and user research with prototypes A/B testing of alternative designs on web sites / applications Click through studies on web Analysis of customer feedback from support contacts; send a smile, etc. SQM Usage tracking with Web Metrics Engagement with customer communities Contextual Inquiry in depth; don’t just talk to executives Field usability studies in real work environments Efforts Cog Walk with real users Observation of user task flow practices Collect work demographics from participants Draft OFS Sales Assistant persona Flag informative participants for customer visits CRM 2 choice one day study in my office JHK – 2 machine study to maintain the contract

35. Driving User Centered Design: Turning Principles into Practice A. Functionality Category Does the tool have the critical attributes to do the job in some capacity? If it does not, it is the wrong tool for the job. If it has the critical attributes, then we can look at the extent to which it is well adapted, evolved, or designed for the job to be done. Critical attributes are the features or properties needed to do the job for which the tool was constructed. 1. Functional Effectiveness – Key Question: Does the tool have the critical properties to do the job? The most general effectiveness criteria that a tool should satisfy is that the tool has the critical properties to do the job regardless of how efficiently, effectively or how well it may be used by a user. If it does not, then it is not usable for the job at hand. This is a binary evaluation. You can’t smooth a rough cut piece of wood with a piece of tissue paper. You can with a piece of sandpaper. A more specific effectiveness criterion asks: “Is this a good tool for the job? Does the tool have the critical attributes in the right form to function well in the manner for which it is to be used? This is the meaning of “effectiveness” for conventional usability. 400 grit sandpaper will not be as effective as `60 grit for smoothing the rough cut wood above. A handgun that shoots backwards would probably be considered as functionally ineffective, if “effectiveness” meant shooting something other than one’s self. It would be functionally effective if it was given to someone as a trap so that the receiver might shoot themselves. It is important to be able to write and communicate clearly. A well chosen picture can complement explanatory text and attract readers attention. This is part of a guidance document to teach usability professionals to use new ideas when evaluating trust interactions that may not involve “ease of use.”

37. Most tools are too global: Resolution too gross

39. Interface Behavior

40. Task Congruent UI

41. Graphical Presentation

42. Easy Navigation

43. Uses Persona’s language

44. User in Control

45. Consistency, Standards, Correctness

46. Error Prevention, Protection and Control

47. Recognition rather than Recall

48. Flexibility and Ease of Use

49. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design

50. Help and Documentation

52. Challenging and Positive Work Experiences MS CRM – Two day, Two choice study Close collaboration with PM to plan most informative research; Building sales and marketing personas; Building the sales process model from site visit data The Cobalt Group – Parts Manager – Vin vs. Stock number Introduced usability process and modified UML to the company Won hearts and minds of Account Execs, Project Managers, 20+ Designers and Leads: KIA University, Nitra web site manager, Parts Manager, Leads Manager

53. Four Research Challenges:Taking Visio to the Office Ribbon UI Evolving a Superlative User Experience As a contributing member of the product team, my approach is to plan, coordinate and run studies that drive all teams to produce an effective product for the marketplace. Not to just run isolated usability studies. These coordinated studied lead up to the Visio: Create a Basic Connected Diagram study which resolved issues around a major set of new features. Challenges Fighting for our product’s version of the ribbon Impacting Design – How smart should we be? Contextual Tab is not Discoverable Discovering the “Quality without a Name.” Work within the Drawing Pattern

54. Taking Visio to the Fluent UI: Evolving a Good Design through iterated, co-related studies Command Card Sort Insert or Delete Connectors 1 & 2 Shapes in Window vs. Shapes in Ribbon 1 & 2 Infinite Page Study Shapes Layout Build a Connected Diagram Study

55. Challenge 1: The Ribbon: Fight or give in? Ribbon Guidelines want the Visio shapes to come from the ribbon. Visio has always had a Shapes Window. Shapes in Window vs. Shapes in Ribbon I and II – Should we move some or all of the Shapes Window to the Ribbon – “No. Keep Shapes Pane on left. “ -- This Justified a break with Office UX standard for the product. Is Quick Shapes useful? – “Yes. It keeps me from going to 5 stencils to get 6 shapes.” Is that important? “Yes, I have to work fast and need to have all my shapes for my diagram type at hand.”

56. Shapes in Window or Ribbon: User Expectations Rule all For all of Visio’s history Shapes have been accessed from the Shapes Window. Should we Change or Fight? Strong user reaction. Keep everything out of our drawings. Keep us in context. Don’t cover our work. Let us work fast.

57. Challenge 2: Driving Design: How Smart should we be? Visio is evolving beyond “Shapes on a page.” Issue: How smart should our feature be? Users are wary of too much assistance (clippy, task panes, auto-format for lists…) Delete Connectors I and II studies – What rules should govern Smart Insert and Delete? – Make room for user action, but “don’t re-arrange diagrams for user. “ Provide limited auto align and space. Users are wary of us “fixing” and don’t “Make more work for me. “ Repair some breaks, leave others alone.

58. Insert / Delete Shapes and Connectors II: Issues 1 2 3 What rules should Visio use when deleting connectors attached to deleted shapes? For: Terminator shapes: Starting or Ending Decision shapes Multiply connected shapes

59. Interaction Design, User Task Patterns and Success of Insert / Delete Smart Insert Shape Issue: Task observation of users shows several patterns of work. Problem: Some patterns of work lead to users not engaging the features. Some features don’t have an initial UI element to grab. They appear contextually. Smart Delete

60. Fix the Smart Insert and Delete? Smart Insert – drag and drop shapes into an existing diagram The hit zone was a bit tricky. How it works. Drag a shape where you want it to be between other shapes. Drop the shape when it is positioned where you want it. “It’s a bit tricky to get the alignment right, but when you hit it, it’s obvious.” Problem: Intrinsic Undiscoverability Problem: Nothing tells you that this behavior exists. You don’t start by choosing an action. Current user task flows prevent them from engaging the feature. First they cut the connection Then they move each shape and its linked shapes apart to make room Then they grab the new shape and drop it between the two Then reconnect the connectors. Users won’t discover the feature except by accident. Design is not an solution option.

61. Challenge 3: Across Office: The Contextual Tab is not Discoverable In Visio research, participants consistently had trouble being aware of the contextual tab being displayed. This was described as: “Still being a problem as of 2004” in a Office Ribbon doc. Independent Personal research and literature review shows problem was intrinsic to human visual perception. Tab appears in peripheral vision which is not sensitive to color, fine lines, fast change. Design team was exploring changes that would not work: color, brighter… Based on my knowledge of human perception, made several recommendations now being considered.

62. Why is the Contextual Tab hard to Discover: Receptor Distribution Approximate location of contextual tab when viewing a text / shapes in center of document window. Tab is in outside of color vision receptors and may be in the “blind” spot depending on the user’s point of fixation..

63. We can’t resolve the tab’s fine detail Figure 08-12 B Resolution in the peripheral retina. Resolution is high only at the fovea and it decreases in the peripheral retina. In addition, Color vision is best in the fovea and limited in the peripheral retina because of the lack of cones. A representation of what the retina sees is shown in Figure08-13A.

64. Recommendations Design efforts should take into account the characteristics of the human visual system. Visual Cue A visual cue needs to connect the contextual object with the contextual tab. Animated movement from the contextual object to the contextual tab Would visually relate the two. This could be a moving colored tab emerging from the object. Slow Flash or Intensity Change The tab itself may need different highlighting, such as a short period of low frequency flashing. Bigger is Better The graphical design of the contextual tab may need to utilize large visual areas rather than thin edges typical of graphical UI elements.

65. Challenge 4: Communicating Findings with Patterns Recalled user practices discovered in earlier studies Customizing their own stencils Typically using 4-6 shapes per drawing type Task flow patterns – L to R; one at a time Build by modules; Polish one, then duplicate, position and rename Adapted study questions to elicit reactions to related features Quick shapes and the mini-shapes bar Auto-connect and your task flow (a change is coming) Assessed user reaction to a new task flow: Auto-connect, The mini-shapes bar, Quick shapes and drag-out connections Identified a UI pattern: Working within the Drawing – key principle of the Fluent UI

66. Drive Design Across Features with User Interaction Patterns: Work within the Drawing Pattern (draft) Use When: A user is creating or editing a connected diagram such as a flow chart with a drawing program. The program lets them place prebuilt graphical shapes onto a drawing canvas from a shape library containing multiple sets of shape stencils, and to access commands from a menu/toolbar area which contains commands organized into groups. Problem: Locating shapes in the UI off of the drawing page forces users to repeatedly move their mouse / cursor through long screen distances to find, select and use the shapes. Commands are also located off of the drawing canvas in menus, toolbars or graphical displays such as the Fluent UI or “ribbon” interface. Consequences: Large repetitive movements with the whole arm are required with this design to move the cursor to the extreme edges of the screen. Movement within the document page requires smaller less fatiguing movements with the wrist and fingers . Considerable time is spent moving the mouse cursor to the shape library area to get a shape, and then back to the drawing to position the shape on the drawing. Considerable time is spent finding the right command or shape, which may not be on the currently exposed stencil. Users have more work because there is no single area for frequently used commands.

67. UI Pattern: Work within Drawing Solution: Define in-drawing interaction mechanisms that enable users to access and apply content (shapes, tools and commands) how and where it is needed, without having to leave the drawing surface. Using the 80:20 principle, design product features so that users can accomplish most of the work on their most frequent kinds of drawings with contextual tools that display at the point of work within the drawing. Key elements of the pattern The behavior of a UI element (ex: a cursor or a connector or shape) changes as a result of its context. Changes in behavior happen at the point of work in the drawing (as opposed to the process of leaving the drawing, going to a UI container for shapes or commands, choosing one and then bringing it back to the drawing to apply it.) Frequent or preferred user choices are conserved and displayed, or are available, at the point of work for use. Opportunities for interaction by UI elements change as a result of their context, ex: proximity of one element to another.

68. A Company-wide Issue: Orphan Bugs and our Customers’ Satisfaction A research report for ODG: 3rd Party Data on Customer Satisfaction with Office 2007 Office 2007 NSAT is down in some categories Customer perception of Microsoft favorability is declining. NSAT drivers show customers have issues with our quality, security, caring, communication and reliability. PSS calls show support call issues often are over Starving and Orphaned bugs Starved – punted to next milestone, release… Orphaned – low sev, low pain, pri3; will never get fixed: bad behavior, problems deep in code, cross features and products.

69. A Company-wide Issue: Orphan Bugs and our Customers’ Satisfaction Consequences Affects customer willingness to buy; delay purchase. Affects other MS products Degrades Brand Set of solutions for PMs are needed. PMs will tend to be more attracted to marketable new features than better behaving features We can’t sell on basis of: “This release is less bad that the previous one.” What should we do when our normal life cycle isn’t working? Answer: think outside the release cycle.

70. Using Usability Lab Equipment Scoped, purchased and set up usability lab for Cobalt Group. Scoped and advised U/W – Bothell on portable usability lab equipment purchase Trained as technical resource for MSFT – Office Design Group’s OVO lab equipment. Constructed and delivered training to all ODG UX researchers on the OVO equipment. Assisted other researchers with lab problems. Learned Morae lab management system.

71. Questions?