[IxDA Discuss] How would you use this report?

[Tom Dell'Aringa]

On 7/3/07, Muntone, Jim <Jim.Muntone at dowjones.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Tom,
> Some follow up questions and a comment...
>
> Are the tasks in the report typical to what you believe people typically
> do on your site now?


Yes, they are. Our sites are marketing/school sites that people are using to
research and apply to our schools. Many of the features listed are things
they already do on our site (and some are not).

Why the "refacing"? What makes you guys think you have a usability
> problem that can be solved with a redesign? (Customer feedback, site
> metrics, etc.)


Whew, well big question. We have 80+ sites, many are simply out of date and
"look old." Put it this way, we have to fix 30+ of them in the next 5
months. That's 6 sites per month... eeeyah. See the problem? :) So, we can't
do a full blown process for each site, as much as I would love to,  and I'm
not sure it's necessary either in a sense - 12 sites might be all culinary
arts schools, even though they are in different locations.

It also leaves little or no time for developing personas and doing other
user research. I'm pushing to at least do phone interviews and getting a lot
of hemming and hawing back, they just don't feel there is enough time. (And
they are probably right, unfortunately).

As far as specific reasons why this is being done? A) They don't like they
way many of them look  - they look "dated." B) The sites are old and the
site owners (schools) haven't taken ownership because the sites don't match
the stakeholder goals or interests. Unfortunately, I am not aware of *any*
user feedback, although I am pushing for that and trying to get into the
site analytics.

As I said in other posts, I am new here (2 weeks). There is clearly a
culture here of not involving the users due to time constraints. My boss
wants usability involved in the processes, but he has other constraints on
him - mainly time. So I need to work with him to do as much as we can in the
small amount of time possible.

As far as personas, even without doing formal research, you might want
> to take a stab at creating at least high-level archetypes so you guys
> have a consistent vocabulary when talking about your customers (ie.
> Poweruser vs, Novices).


That's a good idea. And I *think* although this may be another subject, that
they could be used nearly across the board. We have 3 types of users at a
high level - graduates seeking Masters and PhDs, currently enrolled students
(of all types) and High School seniors looking for a college. What further
divisions there are among those groups, I don't really know, and I don't
know how they differ among our verticals of culinary vs. design vs. general
vs. health care schools.

Maybe you can cross reference the report with internal marketing data,
> or quickly interview some of your staff that do regularly interact with
> your customers(salespeople, reps, stakeholders) who might have an
> understanding of day to day use patterns/problem points.


Makes sense, I'll ask if such data exists. We have people who deal with
students, so I could find out if I can spend some time with them.

Thanks for the suggestions Jim!

Tom