PinPoint Performance Solutions Blog (Legacy Content)

A reader took me to task on a recent blog post I made where I ranted about how bugs and workarounds shouldn't be acceptable or "a way of life".

Patrick Neeman at Usability Counts made two valid points in his response to my post that resonated with me:

1. Test early and test often
2. We live in a beta test world

These two things, among other strategies, will help mitigate usability issues. 

The best example, currently, of living in a beta test world is Google Chrome.  Companies like Google make no bones about the condition of their applications as they are developing them and preparing them for a final release.  It's clearly in Beta - it even says so on the download page.  I'm even using a beta version of the blogging platform I'm using to write this very post.  Believe me, it's far from perfect.  However, the strategy is to let the users be the testers and give them the opportunity to take a form of ownership in the application's further development.

There's nothing wrong with this strategy and I often encourage it among the people I work with.  My point is if the business conditions allow it, do upfront due diligence to make sure the application you are putting out there has a minimal number of bugs, errors and usability issues.  Having these problems only hurts end user performance, if you are expecting them to use the application right away.  A buggy application only slows people down and keeps them from the work they intend to do leveraging the application.

I appreciate Patrick's feedback and I appreciate his willingness to let me comment to his post.  Lesson learned for me is to not vent and blog at the same time!

Forgive the rant, but I'm speaking from experience.  When it comes to technology in business, I believe do it right or don't do it at all.

Over the years, and especially in recent months, I have encountered many proprietary applications not ready for their debut and falling short of their expectations.  Good intentions are there but the applications rolled out to the end-users with much fanfare, who are expected to use them and leverage them to their advantage in their daily work, fall flat.  Instead of full functionality, speed and efficiency, end-users encounter bugs, slow downs and errors.

Sadly, bugs and inefficiencies in applications get passed off as being acceptable and part of the design, development and deployment process.  It's not fair to make your target audience or end users unknowingly be your beta testers.  They shouldn't have to put up with such frustrations if they are being asked to use what really boils down to be a prototype application to do their work.  They should be able to use the application with minimal or no bugs and it should work the way they expect it to. Applications should support work performance, not be a barrier to work performance.

I understand that it may be nearly impossible to release a flawless application.  However, rather than put the end users through this trouble developers and stakeholders should take the time to conduct user-centered design, do quality assurance and build an objective usability test where beta testers can contribute in a meaningful way to find the bugs that are "show stoppers".

Find he bugs, fix them and release.

In the end when a fully functional, working application free of major bugs is released it will work as intended and boost productivity and performance in the workplace.

The Web 2.0 world we live in has been beneficial in creating a community of users that share their thoughts and opinions on the quality of just about anything ranging from websites, books and music, to services provided by vendors in their local.

The power is in the hands of the end-user and they now have a voice. Even more powerful and more prevalent on the web is the power of groups. A fundamental paradigm has adapted itself online in the world of Web 2.0: People tend to buy, use, do and think the way their peers do. In other words, there is a human need to fit in and be among people much like ourselves that we often follow the trend so as not to be left behind or seen as out of touch.

Ratings are often the means of expression of preference in the Web 2.0 world. It's easily understandable by all. Something rated "1-star" is often deemed as bad while something given an "A" or a "10" is deemed as good or excellent.

If you intend employ a ratings system in the design your software, website or web application be sure to choose a system that is not only understandable, but objective.

The more common system is referred to as a Likert Scale. It's a 5-point scale similar to the following:

1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Neither agree nor disagree
4. Agree
5. Strongly agree

Anything more than 5 points tend to muddy the waters of objectivity. The more choices, the less absolute the values will be. For example, in a 10-point scale where I say "1" is bad and "10" is the best, I may interpret "7" to be OK while another person may say "8" is also OK. Well, which is it?

The Likert Scale is the better choice when implementing a rating system, but it does have it's pitfalls. I find the 5-point Likert Scale to lack objectivity when you give the end-user a list of many things to rate. The trend usually produces a traditional bell curve where most of the choices fall under the rating of "3" - neither agree or disagree.

If you want your end-users to commit to a choice, do a 4-point scale such as the following:

1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Strongly agree

By removing the middle choice you avoid neutrality and create greater objectivity. Greater objectivity means better usability to the community of users.

I was happy to see a post by Peter Abrahams at IT-Director.com on the Future of Usability Testing. The reason I was pleased to see this post was because it backed up my assertion from what I feel to be a credible source that usability and user-centered design during the conceptual and development phases of software, website and web applications, should be a holistic process.

By holistic process, I mean to say that the usability of the application should be linked to the business need. The business need can mean two things - one for the developer and the other for the customer.

As an advocate for usability, I find that user-centered design and usability applied throughout the development process lowers costs both before and after the application is released. During concept and development, user-centered design and usability under an agile methodology will lead to shorter time frame for the development phase, thus lowering development costs.

If there's one thing businesses love, it's lowered costs!

For the customer, a usable application means less support. Ease of use will allow them to be productive with the application and spend less time trying to train themselves how to do certain tasks. If an end-user can be self-sufficient in their use of the application, acceptance and productivity increases thus making the technology purchase a worthwhile investment. If they are able to complete their tasks quickly and efficiently with the application this can translate into lowered costs for the customer. The same is true for the developer. Money going toward support resources to handle "how-to" questions can be diverted to resources that tackle tough technical issues.

Since launching this blog I have written about this topic extensively. Here are some past posts on this subject:

• Maintaining User-Centered Design in Agile Software Development
• User-Centered Design and Agile: Why Can't We Be Friends?
• User Centered Design, HCI and Agile Development Compatibility

I think it will take some time for business leaders to have a meeting of the minds with developers on the need for usability, as demonstrated by the panel discussion that Abrahams reported on in his article. When that will happen it is hard to say, but the trend appears to be moving in the right direction.

OK, I finally get it.

After playing around with Twitter for a couple months and doubting it's value to our society, today I had an epiphany (my favorite word, by the way). I had that "A-Ha" moment were I saw the practical use of this social networking application in business as I followed the "tweets" of George Seybold of Seybold Scientific.

I had the pleasure of meeting George a couple months ago and included him in my social network ala Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. George is attending Idavation, an annual business and technology conference that takes place in Boise once a year. Because of prior commitments I was not able to attend, but George's brief posts to his Twitter account updated me on the keynote speech by Gary Hoover. Interesting content - and I'm sorry I missed it.

A few weeks ago I discussed how SMB's can use social networking applications to enhance their business. I talked about LinkedIn and Facebook. Now add Twitter to that list. I purposely left out Twitter because I still didn't understand how it could be used in a practical manner. For example, microblog a seminar so those who can't attend still are in on the discussion as it is happening.

George was able to make me see the light. Looks like I might have to write an addendum to that post. I know I'm late to the party, but I finally get it.

I never considered myself and early adopter. Everybody seems to have one in their life, either among their circle of friends or within their family, but I'm not one of them.

A little more than a year ago, Microsoft released its Vista operating system. When the product launched I didn't run out right away and install it on my company's PC's. I waited on the sidelines like a lot of other people and stuck to what I knew worked for me, met my needs and what I was familiar with. I didn't want to change to something that was unproven and had little to no guarantee that it will work with my software and other hardware devices.

Late last month, I upgraded one of my computers and chose the Vista OS. Actually, I had no choice with the box I purchased. It was either Vista or nothing. After a year in service, I thought it was time to give the OS a try. To me, the change was inevitable. Eventually I would have to make the change because Microsoft will quit offering XP and will no longer support it in the near future.

A recent PC World article titled Why Users Hate Vista explained how change in an operating system is more emotional (to the end-users) than technical (for the IT personnel). When it comes down to it, any technical change for an end-user is emotional. It's human nature to resist change. Just ask my friend who wrote a recent post on his blog about change. Bottom line: people are creatures of habit and will prefer to keep things status quo. At minimum they will be very selective about the amount of change they are willing endure.

In business and the IT world, change is unavoidable if you want to remain competitive. I don't recommend change for the sake of change, but if it improves your business processes it should be implemented with thought and consideration for the end-user. After all, it is they who will be leveraging the technology to drive the business processes that bring about success.

How does one implement a technology change despite the emotional reaction people will have to it? The answer is Change Management.

Here are some tips and thoughts I have on this subject:

• Focus on the people - consult with the end-users. Include them in the decision making process when making changes to the technology they will be interfacing with. Work with them to identify their needs, the obstacles they wish to overcome and their overall objectives.
• Communicate strategic messages - discuss the reason for the change and solicit feedback. Clarify how everyone will be involved in the change and give them ownership in the implementation strategy.
• Communicate and train - provide ample notice and support for the new technology measure the results. Above all, maintain open lines of communication to allow end-users to ask questions and voice their concerns. Address them promptly.
  

If you take careful consideration into what you are doing and who you are doing it for, you can be confident that the change will be embraced and implemented as it was intended.

Rik Catlow of Rikcat Industries posted to his blog 5 Ways to Make a User Interface Intuitive.

I completely agree with Rik and wish more developers of software, web applications and websites embrace simplicity in the design of user interfaces. I'm sure if you take stock of the applications you use on a daily basis or applications you have used in the past, you'll recall how most of them are confusing leaving you to fumble around just to accomplish a simple task.

Much of this is common sense and when simplicity is chosen over complexity it is not about compromise. It is about being targeted and precise in your intentions and purpose behind your application.

Here are Rik's suggestions on making a user interface intuitive along with some of my own commentary:

1. Eliminate Redundancy: most applications have different ways to accomplish the same task. Reduce the redundancy and simplify the tasks to a select few.
2. Nomenclature & Contextualization: I sum this up as a controlled vocabulary and proper labeling. Don't be cute with titles linking to other pages or sections in your website or web application. If you have a section with a list of links to other websites or links to e-books and presentations, don't call it "The Pit" or "Library". Call it what it is. Call it "Links". This is about knowing your audience and you must speak their language in your application's interface.
3. Consistency: the overall look and navigation of your application must be the same throughout, no matter where a user is in the application.
4. Protect Screen Real Estate: if you work with many people on a project, there is a tendency for others to jockey for position to take up space on the screen for their pet projects or areas of interest. Make it clear that it is about the end-users and what is relevant to them.
5. Testing: make sure you test your application or website with actual end-users. Run a series of tests from paper-based, wire frame prototypes to functioning prototypes. Testing need not be complex, but it must be objective.

Along with these 5 suggestions, here are a few books and a link to a useful web article that will help you create a intuitive user interface:

Books

• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville
• Don't Make Me Think by Steven Krug

Web Articles

• Why You Only Need to Test With 5 Users by Jakob Nielsen

My friends at Valitics are running a series of posts on their blog about web optimization. One of thoses posts is on web optimization and usability.

Head on over to their blog to see how they view this subject. As an item of interest, you may also find my recently published white paper on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Usability useful as well.

One of my favorite websites, BNET, has put together a feature on Web 2.0 and how it can work for you in your business.

Not only are you able to find out what it is and what specific tools are at your disposal, you can also learn how to put it to use in your company. I encourage you to read this article as well as others in the feature if you are considering using Web 2.0 technologies in your organization.

Here are some highlights from the article and some thoughts I have on this topic:

• Web 2.0 - simple deployment, simple management and lower overall costs. There is typically no software to buy and configure on a network server or desktop. Management and maintenance of the application is often minimal. Somebody else is usually responsible for the "dirty work".
• Implementing Web 2.0 in an organization should be done out of a need to improve performance, productivity and communication. It shouldn't be done for the sake of the technology or just because "everybody else is doing it." The solution the technology provides should be to evolve current processes and practices, not to revolutionize what is currently being done. The key is to have minimal pain and minimal resistance during a time of change. Otherwise, your initiative could be rejected by the end users. Find a champion for your cause that people respect and are willing to follow. It could be you or it could be someone else.
• Some Web 2.0 applications have poor usability or counter-intuitive interfaces. This is a young field and there are bound to be many bugs, glitches and overlooked features that may be important to you. In this day and age, beta is the new "final release". It just comes with the territory.
• Be willing to experiment. Find the root causes to performance problems and identify whether or not a technology solution is the answer. If so, choose an application and see if it works for you. If not, you are out very little due to the nature of the technology. Simple deployment, simple management and low cost make it affordable to try on different hats until you find the one that is the best fit.

I would be very interested in learning what you discover in these articles. Perhaps you'll come to the same conclusions or arrive at your own. Enjoy!

While taking my blog break last month, I had a little time to do some research and find two very interesting articles on how to use Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft PowerPoint in creating user interface prototypes that are interactive. This is goes way beyond paper prototypes and basic screen captures and gives people a sense of how a website or web application will behave when a user interacts with it.

Here are the articles:

• Interactive Prototypes with PowerPoint
• PDF Prototypes: Mistakenly Disregarded and Underutilized

I'm always fascinated when we find new uses for applications beyond what we commonly utilize them for. The greatest advantage to using these two applications for interactive user interface prototypes is that you can be confident that almost everybody you work with, who needs to see these prototypes, will have these applications or at the very least reader versions on their systems.

If you have any other suggestions for uncommon uses of software that we may take for granted, I welcome them.

A fundamental principle in usability design and interaction design is something called an affordance. An affordance is a term made popular by Don Norman in his book The Design of Everyday Things. Essentially, an affordance is the way an object looks, how it is designed or how it is presented to suggest a certain action or usage.

For instance, the angle or shape of a chair suggests that you use it to sit on. The rounded, softer and curved portion of a knife or hand tool suggests this is where you handle the instrument. Just take a look around and you’ll be surprised all of the affordances you see in the design of everyday items you use.

It’s even present in our technology.

Most software and web applications have affordances built into their interface to suggest certain actions or usage. Your typical web browser most likely has left and right arrow buttons near the top to suggest your web surfing experience is much like reading a book. If you want to turn back to the previous page you were viewing, you would click the left arrow button or “turn the page to the left”.

Good user interfaces will have these intuitive features built in. Still, there is a need for support systems to be in place in order to guide new users who may not hold the same paradigms or mental models of the persona you developed your application around. The support provided, usually through carefully designed tutorials or quick start guides, will give the user a sense of what is this (the application), what do I do with it and how will it be relevant to me.

That’s good support for any application.

As I was catching up on some long overdue reading, I noticed a few topics emerge that reminded me of a post I wrote back in December on User-Centered Design and the Agile Development Methodology.

The theme among the articles I've been reading is that the two are more compatible than most people think when it comes to the development of software and web-based applications. The fact that it continues to be discussed tells me that a misunderstanding between human-computer interaction (HCI) professionals and programmers still exist.

I don't know if my voice will rise above the noise that has been created as part of an effort to foster a level of understanding between the professionals in user-centered design, HCI and software & web application development. All I do know is I can add my own personal insight and commentary on this subject and provide you, the reader, a chance to learn more about this subject yourself to draw your own conclusions.

My research on this subject took me to a couple of interesting places with their own unique views on the compatibility of these methodologies. This post from InfoQ discussed some comparisons and differences (mostly) between HCI and Agile. Despite the differences between practices, a strong focus on the end-user was common. Also, a whitepaper at the Journal of Usability Studies discussed how to make user-centered design, HCI (in their case they called it "usability investigations") compatible with Agile. Their solution is to adjust the scope and granularity of the investigation to accommodate Agile development, however, again, the end-user is central to the process and is a common link between the methodologies.

The link user-centered design, HCI and Agile development share is their ability to be flexible. In addition, they all share the understanding that the end-user is crucial to the success of the final product being developed. If you are looking to bridge these methodologies together to create a software or web-based product, look to the Contextual Design methodology. According to the developers of this inquiry methodology, Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt in their book Rapid Contextual Design, Agile and other development methods like XP are very accommodating and flexible enough to achieve the desired results.

PinPoint Performance Solutions has published a white paper on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Usability (PDF, 75K).

Abstract
The design and functionality of a website does not have to suffer just to receive a high ranking on a search engine results page. Search engine optimization, the practice of optimizing the code and content of a website to make it easy for search engines to index and for end-users to find and usability, the practice of making something easy to understand and learn are actually two sides of the same coin. Both practices are a lot more similar than you may think and lend to enhancing the user experience for websites and web-based applications.

I’m a very visual person and I like it when people make an effort to illustrate thoughts and ideas. After all, thoughts and ideas by their very nature are abstract and when it comes to something like the user experience, you can’t get any more abstract than that.

What is the user experience? If you were asked to draw it as it relates to your product, your software, website or web application, could you do it?

A book called Sketching User Experiences by Bill Buxton demystifies the abstract and helps bring the design process to a more tangible level. You can read a brief review of the book here. Also, a colleague in the Boise area discusses the book to some degree and explains how he uses sketching in his daily work.

I think one thing that turns off some folks from sketching is the pressure to be perfect right out the gate. They see people they perceive as their competition and fear what they are working on is not innovative enough. In the process of designing a product, most of the joy comes from the journey, answering questions that seem to crop up without warning and discovering new things that may not have been considered before.

Even though we live in a digital age, start putting pen to paper to fuel that new idea.

I’m always interested in finding ways to reach new customers and keep the one’s I have happy through my website or blog. One way to do this is to make sure my website and blog adhere to tried and true usability standards.

I always learn something new each time I find an article or blog post on the subject of usability. I’m not perfect and I haven’t applied every tip and trick I’ve encountered. One thing you find as you begin to focus more on usability, it’s an ongoing process.

Recently I found this blog post discussing usability as it relates to websites, mostly e-commerce sites. I encourage you to read the post, but I thought I’d take the same five points and adapt them to a reader who may be in the business of designing and developing software and web applications.

Here we go:

1. You just can’t afford not to – the user experience is what keeps your end-users engaged and continuing to use your applications. If it doesn’t meet their needs or is difficult to use they’ll find something else to replace it.
2. The user experience is more important than your brand or pricing – the most popular software companies in the world can make all the software they want and sell it for a good price, but if it doesn’t meet the needs of the end-user they will likely reject it. I don’t want to name names, but your company name, your pricing and distribution strategy has very little to do with how your application will be received by your target audience. It’s about meeting needs and helping people accomplish tasks to their expectations.
3. Gain a competitive advantage – usable software and web applications have a greater loyalty among end-users. In the e-commerce world this is identified as conversion rates and repeat customers.
4. Focus on the standards – stick to usability standards outlined by organizations like W3C or ISO. When standards are employed, end-users encountering your software or web applications know what to expect and can grasp key concepts quickly.
5. You are already spending on design – why not continue the process? Business needs change as well as the processes that are part of the business. You’ll likely make changes to your application so budget accordingly. Focus on the usability of the application first and the design & aesthetics second.

As I said, usability is an ongoing process. If you make the commitment to usability now, changes you make to improve your software and web application in the near future will be minor compared to monumental changes if you had not focused on usability at all.

Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of being a panelist at Capital City Communicators' Spring Seminar. The topic of discussion centered on how businesses have been using new media to build community and I was there to represent both PinPoint Performance Solutions and my business organization, Treasure Valley Consultants' Network. The panel included representatives from small to medium sized businesses in the Boise area. Large corporations such as Micron (NYSE:MU) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) were represented as well.

The conversation turned to how blogging has help our respective businesses. Two key points came from the representatives of the larger corporations during the discussion:

1. Blogging has allowed them to focus on specific market segments. For example, Micron services many industries and they've created multiple blogs to appeal to multiple audiences. One particular blog is targeted toward the automotive industry while another is targeted toward the imaging industry. Blogging, to them, is about reaching vertical markets. These are the customers in the "long tail", so to speak. By taking this approach they know that the readers of their many different, yet highly focused blogs are customers most likely to buy from them.
2. Blogging has provided a new channel for product development. For example, HP pays close attention to the number of blogs they have written by people within the walls of their company. They have what is known as an open blogging policy. Anybody within the company can write about anything provided they monitor their blog and respond to readers accordingly. Ideas for new products or product improvements has emerged out of these blogs.

I think the second point is a positive step toward new product development or product improvements. Blogs are a new avenue to gather user information such as needs and preferences. Support forums are another great tool to see where folks are having problems and learning from other users how they solved the problem.

A word of caution - if you think blogs and forums will take place of any user-centered design phase surrounding the development of your software or web applications. It's only a small part of it.

You still have to go out and talk to your end-users, observe them and find out how the jobs, tasks, work environment and context of the problem/obstacle they are trying to overcome fits into your overall design. Blogs and forums can't take care of this task for you. They are merely a resource and help point you in the direction of where you need to focus your user-centered design research.

I've written about this book before, but Anthony Ulwick's What Customers Want strongly discourages product developers from taking anything the end-user has to say about your current product or new product at face value. No offense to your end-users, but they probably don't know what they really need. They only tell you what they want and what they prefer, personally. They can't speak for the rest of your customers.

Blogs and forums hold a lot of potential for new product development, but remember they are just a small component or tool in the user-centered design process.

Due to prior commitments, I was unable to attend Kickstart, an entrepreneur event held in Boise late last week. This event generated a lot of pre and post buzz that I'm disappointed I missed it and didn't make a better effort to attend. Much of what I learned about what took place at last week's event came from local news reports I keep tabs on periodically. One report caught my attention from the Idaho Business Review.

Caleb Chung, inventor of the Furby, a talking toy that was all the rage about 7 or 8 years ago wrapped up the event with a speech on entrepreneurship and designing toys. Here's something he said that I think sums up what innovation is:

Innovation requires three things: art, science and business. Art is a great ingredient – the why to do something; science is the how. Balancing the three ingredients is what makes an enterprise great, otherwise you have great tech no one wants, art stuck in the Stone Age or a business plan with no heart.

I couldn't agree more.

I think too often product developers enter the process of developing the "next big thing" or the software or web application that will change the world in how we live and think with a strong bias toward one of the three areas Chung described. I've seen some developers concentrate way too heavily on the science of their application and give little thought as to the business model it will be a part of. On the other hand, I've seen too much attention be given to the art or aesthetics of the application when more attention should be paid to the science or substance of the program.

As Chung said, the key is balancing the three. I've been advocating using a consultant or a third party as part of the product development process to help lend balance and perspective. You can read my previous posts on this subject here and here - why you should hire a usability consultant. You may also be interested in reading a post I wrote about PinPoint's business model back in February. I think it meshes very nicely with Chung's view on innovation.

Note: Content for this blog post has been drawn from Usability First: Consulting.

Usable systems such as software and web applications should seem intuitive to the end-user, but getting there is not always as intuitive for programmers and developers.

What Do Usability Consultants Do?
Usability consultants work with designers and developers to analyze how an application meets end-user needs so that they can improve upon its concept to enhance productivity, increase overall end-user satisfaction, and minimize end-user errors.

If a usability consultant is brought in before a website or software application is created, they can help developers achieve consistent, usable results. This is the preferred model for development, as usability is built into the application rather than as an afterthought. Usability is not about making a user interface attractive. It encompasses issues such as information architecture, design, writing, and quality assurance. Usability goes way beyond the surface elements.

If usability is brought in after production, it can evaluate the usefulness of a website or software application by using one or more usability evaluation methods such as focus groups, job / task analysis and end-user testing.

Usability consultants usually offer such services as needs analysis, heuristic evaluation (often conducted through expert critique or usability testing), user interface design, and usability training.

What Are The Benefits Of Hiring A Usability Consultant?

• Increasing the usability of a website or software application results in increased productivity for the end-user.
• Bringing a usability consultant into the design and production process will reduce overall costs as it is more cost effective to build a usable application than it is to repair an unusable one.
• Doing a less than thorough job can cost more than money. It can cost time and customers.
• Usability consultants can evaluate systems more efficiently because they know what to look out for based on their experience with a wide range of systems.
• They can bring perspectives that those close to a project may not have considered. It is often difficult to be objective about your own work when you are closely tied to it.
• Consultants are trained in a range of usability evaluation methods. The advantage comes with knowing which method is best for each individual project.
• Having a usable application will result in satisfied, productive users with lowered support costs.

I found this blog post rather interesting:

10 Tips for Moving From Programmer to Entrepreneur

What piqued my curiosity was this is a programmer who came to his own realization that he must have a business mindset as a programmer in order to be successful. Some of the same things he discovered are the same things I have been long communicating to the IT community when it comes to creating usable software and web applications.

Here are a few quotes that caught my attention and some comments:

Design is everything, relative to the competition. Your product has to be nicely designed. Standard programmer square boxes with gray backgrounds don’t cut it! ...People DO judge books by their covers.

In other words, the user interface is important. Don't let the coding or the programming manifest the interface. The end-user could care less about what is behind the scenes as long as the application meets their expectations in terms of looks and function.

Admit that you don’t understand the end user and rectify that. There’s a good chance that the software you are writing is in a domain you are not an expert in. You need to understand the actual customers. Talk with them. Without talking to the actual end users you’ll never know what features you’re wasting your time on and which ones you don’t have that are critical.

In most cases, it's as simple as a job / task analysis. If you are able to understand what the end-user does, what tools they need to accomplish their tasks and under what conditions they will be conducting their tasks, you are on the road to truly understanding the end-user and creating an application that meets their needs.

Remember to design for ease of use. Even advanced users like easy. Your user interface is no place for fancy technology tricks. Keep is simple. Advanced users love simple just as much as newbie’s.

I think the tendency for most programmers is to use the interface as an example of their skills. This is not the place for it. When it's all said and done, it's about the end-users and their needs - not what you can do as a programmer.

A colleague in the Boise area recently wrote a post in his blog on using e-learning to save money in corporations - provided it's used the right way.

Dan Bobinski is the owner and president of The Center for Workplace Excellence where he trains and writes on various workplace topics most owners, managers and even employees face on a day to day basis. Dan's post got me thinking about how e-learning is used to training people on software or web applications. Whether they are proprietary or off-the-shelf, really doesn't matter. The fundamental principles Dan discussed in his post hold true. I even offered my two-cents to expand upon what Dan discussed and I believe they support the principles.

Dan's points were as follows:

1. You have to understand the nature of the work you intend to teach through e-learning.
2. You have to understand at what level of learning the content resides in. Is it rote memorization (level 1)? Is it understanding and comprehension (level 2)? Is it application (level 3)?

What's important to note here is that level 1 learning tends to produce dull, boring e-learning with little to no interaction. As you increase the levels of learning, provided the content can accommodate it, you open yourself to creating highly interactive content.

Now, here's where my comments support Dan's points:

1. Adult learners and their preferred style of learning will tend to fall anywhere from a structured, sequential pace to a random, exploratory pace.
2. The higher levels of learning (level 3) and its content are the ones that tend to support the full range of adult learning styles.
3. With a younger workforce who was practically raised on the internet entering the business world, they are going to demand their business education to be highly interactive and emulate Web 2.0 features such as blogging, forums, live chats, etc. to hold their attention and motivate them.

I've seen far too much e-learning in my time that has missed the mark. Cost benefits to providing e-learning as a support tool along with new or off-the-shelf proprietary software or web applications can be realized provided it is used correctly - just like Dan says. Technology in and of itself can provide rich content for e-learning at level 3 through simulations where end-users are free to explore or contextual electronic performance support systems that help end-users through difficult tasks in a procedural fashion.

E-learning is a great training tool that can be expensive, but in the long run it can be cost-effective provided it is used correctly and the content accommodates the need for an interactive environment.