[IxDA Discuss] New IxD Techniques to Try in 2007

[Robert Barlow-Busch]

> Please clarify. Can you describe an example of an activity you
> observed users perform? Was it digital or physical? What did you learn
> from it?

I gave one example yesterday, so here's a different one. Redesigning  
an enterprise web application used by people who manage projects to  
renovate/refit large corporate office buildings. Our observations  
were both digital and physical in nature, meaning we had them  
demonstrate numerous core activities in their current software, but  
we also spent time on the job with them as they went about their work  
(this may sound like a lot, but we spent on average 90 minutes with  
each person).

We learned a lot of stuff, but here's one that had a big impact on  
our design: these people are interrupted a LOT. They'll go through  
periods when their phone rings every 5 minutes, and the emails rarely  
stop. And although a few people at our client had a notion that these  
people are "very busy" -- it was only by spending time with them that  
we truly appreciated what that meant.

So in the web application, we built numerous ways for them to deal  
with interruptions. The most obvious being a way to "set aside"  
whatever they were doing in the UI and deal with the new request,  
then with a single click return to where they were.

-- 
Robert Barlow-Busch
Practice Director, Interaction Design
Quarry Integrated Communications Inc.
rbarlowbusch at quarry.com
(519) 570-2020

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