[IxDA Discuss] Anyone succeeded in getting a usability-only release?

[Michael Micheletti]

Yes. In an earlier role, I was tasked with redesigning an in-house
application that was not well received in its first limited release. There
were a great many screens, all laid out jumbly - easy to get lost and
confused. We shrank the number of screens, displayed where you were in the
navigation and process, started with good default values, and spruced up a
couple of key screens. The redesigned web application was much better
received by the in-house users. This was a great relief to the sponsoring
managers (businesspeople) who were very happy to be known for heading a
successful project turnaround.

I was fortunate on the project to have exceptionally knowledgeable users and
user managers participate directly in the team. They contributed many good
ideas and a lot of their time helping me to get things right.

One thing we tried that turned out to be quite successful was to do a
cognitive walkthrough of a high-resolution prototype of the web front end. I
asked the senior management sponsor on the project team to drive. He got an
immediate sense of what it would be like to use the new tool. In a lively
two-hour session, we validated or corrected the prototype. This gave the
development team a lot of confidence in the new design.

Michael Micheletti

On 1/31/07, jackbellis.com <jackbellis at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Have any of you ever succeeded in getting a software release dedicated
> solely to usability fixes? I guess I'm primarily addressing in-house
> specialists... presumably consultants are often engaged to address solely
> usability.
>
>