Author: Karl A L Smith
2011/03/08 – Published UX design is flawed and has no proof its the right solution In recent years the flaws in user experience design (UXD) based in wireframe exercises have become more evident to professional IT people as the business has become flooded with unqualified people. UXD is focused on the designers view and has lost
2011/03/07 – Published FAQ’s are no longer relevant FAQ’s are very much vested in intranet thinking, that assumes if users want help they work for us and know the terminology and have similar tasks / goals to other users on the internal net. Websites conversely support users from every experience of life, who while focused on
2011/03/04 – Published UCD requirements gathering There are lots ways to elicit UCD requirements so I don’t intend on listing them all here, what I will note are some of the effective ways that I utilise. They can be described as structured, unstructured or a mixture of the two, but importantly the methods produce differing depth
2011/02/18 – Published Contextual usability dramatically effects outcomes While any kind of user testing is better than none, usability testing out of context is like testing a car on water, it gives some basic information and not a lot more. If performance and use are important at all, then testing should take place in an environment standard
2011/02/10 – Published People focused Capturing requirements is subject to other peoples availability, this remains one of the most painful parts of the process as few participants seem to understand just how important their experience is to the project. Often a participant can shape the final output without realising they have done so, I include a
2011/02/09 – Published International Standards International projects should be constructed in consideration of the most stringent standards this is expected to be those pertaining to the USA, but also to include ISO9241 guidelines; Australia Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission – http://www.hreoc.gov.au/ The Act provides key legal standards which inform their Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/dda1992264).
2011/02/02 – Published Structure of digital in Banking Sector Digital banking structure I have worked with a number of banks and financial services companies mainly in user experience and team management, I have also been involved in the development of new business models. I keep being asked to provide structure information for various clients so feel
2011/02/02 – Published Getting the requirements right It is an understood factor in travel that if the journey starts even half a degree wrong then the final destination will be considerably different from where the person intended to be, this is for many why there is a make do culture when working with technology requirements. Unfortunately
2011/01/27 – Published User experience has in recent years become the greatest area of fraud and theft in business. Because the output documents appear simple huge numbers of people without any formal knowledge of what goes into them are having a go. Avoid designers, look for Architects and Consultants, with an MSc and good client references