[IxDA Discuss] What do these prototyping tools give me? (RE: Axure RP Pro prototyping tool)

[Jay Morgan]

Thanks for the thorough responses to the thorough description.
What's good about iRise, which is true of most tools, is that I don't have
to describe it every time i use it.  So, this protracted discussion is
another case for why we work in context, rather than in text, so to speak.

See, I thought that I'd be working in a place like you described.  Then, I
woke up where I am now.  It's ugly most days.  iRise makes a huge
difference.  (You could even say that clear as mud is an improvement for
us.)

During our reference calls, we talked to other companies who use iRise.  All
of them use it for the multi-version system support you mentioned, which is
something I will be using it for, too.  The references had staff that can
work a lot like you and Dave can.  The major cases for iRise in their
already-productive environments were standardizing work formats among
different UX teams, and that completing these projects in iRise was faster
than with standard tools.  Two of the teams tracked projects in the hands of
different teams, comparing who was faster with iRise, and how iRise compared
to the other tools.  Both companies said iRise sped up delivery (as in,
start to release of product) by 60 and 66%.  It's looking higher than that
for us.

I will now go an entire week without discussing or mentioning iRise.
take care,
Jay


On 5/14/06, Todd Warfel <lists at toddwarfel.com> wrote:
>
>
>  On May 13, 2006, at 11:30 PM, Jay Morgan wrote:
>
>  Maintaining projects begs the question that you'd be working on this project
> as long with iRise as you have with your current tools.  Ha!  Sorry, it
> was open, had to take it.
>
>
>
> Cute, Jay.
>
>  It actually isn't clear to me if the project you mention suffers from
> scope creep, poor conceptual framework, or you mean
>
> it's a system that needs long term maintenance.  If it's scope creep or
> poor concepts, then iRise could help you by letting you work things out in
> more detail and faster.
>
>
>
> Not the case. It's called, deliver then do the next iteration. So, we're
> on v3.0 now. It's the third release in 18 months. Deliver early and often,
> I think it's called ;).
>
>  If it's a system you're maintaining, then I think of something like using
> the Templates & Masters I mentioned earlier.  Those can
>
> be saved and reused across projects.  For instance, I can just as easily save
> a set of Templates in an iDoc and send them to a colleague, as I can save
> a full simulation.  Also, projects can be archived - both private and shared
> - for later use.
>
>
>
> We're using InDesign and Illustrator. We have a template system w/multiple
> master pages. Each element on the master can be individually edited on the
> screen w/o destruction of the original on the master if desired (e.g. you
> have a placement object for "Page Title," but on the individual screen, you
> edit it to "My Account Preferences" w/o destruction of the "Page Title" on
> the master.).
>
>
> We also implement a pattern library, which is recycled, when appropriate,
> across projects.
>
>
>
> I hope this helps clear things up.  If I see you at another summit or conference,
> I'm happy to show it to you.
>
> Jay
>
>
>
>  Clear as mud. Again, seriously, I'd love to see it in action next time
> we're at the same place. For now, it just seems like there are better ways,
> or they need to make some changes to iRise to make it work for us. And I'm
> still waiting for, and working on a proper IA tool that doesn't have the
> disadvantages of iRise and Axure.
>
>
>
> Cheers!
>
> Todd R. Warfel
> Partner, Design & Usability Specialist
> Messagefirst | designing and usability consulting
> --------------------------------------
> *Contact Info*
> Voice:    (607) 339-9640 Email:    todd at messagefirst.com
> AIM:       twarfel at mac.com
> Blog:      http://toddwarfel.com
> --------------------------------------
> In theory, theory and practice are the same.
> In practice, they are not.
>
>
>


-- 
_________________________________
Jay A. Morgan
jayamorgan at gmail.com