From a technical writer to an usability engineer

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From a technical writer to an usability engineer

• Bogo Vatovec Consulting
• Improving Human Performance
• Knowledge Management
• Change Management
• Usability and User Interface Design
• Project Management
• Software Engineering

• Contact
• Bogo Vatovec
• Stralauer Allee 17d
• 10245 Berlin
• Germany
• E-mail office_at_bovacon.de
• Phone [phone]
• Mobile [phone]

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Why do you want to do it?

• Because you are frustrated?
• Nobody listens to you?
• Nobody takes you seriously?
• You only get the dirty editing work from the
  engineers?
• WRONG.

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Why do you want to do it?

• Because you see a natural progression.
• Because you are deeply interested in Human
  Computer Interaction.
• Because you are passionate about your job and you
  are willing to spend lots of time learning.

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What are you doing now?

• You are an advocate of the users
• Analyze your audience
• Analyze user goals and tasks
• Develop a task oriented manual
• Develop designs of manuals, online help, Web
  sites.
• You are suggesting improvements to the user
  interface

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Why is a move common?

• Similar goals and knowledge profiles
• Similar believes and thinking
• Good documentation adds to usability
• Documentation is part of the product
• Bad product is difficult to document
• Text is an inseparable part of the interface

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Areas of work

• Usability
• User research feedback
• UI design and development
• Usability evaluation
• Usability engineering
• Performance optimization
• Web design and development

• Technical writing
• Instructional design
• Printed documentation
• Online documentation
• Web design and writing
• Editing

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Skills

• Usability
• Cognitive sciences
• Interaction design
• Visual design
• Interviewing, observations, analysis

• Technical writing
• Instructional design
• Interviewing
• Writing and editing
• Information design
• Presentation media

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Backgrounds

• Usability
• Specialized programs
• Psychology
• Computer science
• Anthropology

• Technical writing
• Specialized programs
• Languages
• Computer science
• Variety of social studies

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Similarities and Differences

• Usability
• Understanding the users
• Focus on interaction design
• Make things easy to use
• Design the product and the interface

• Technical writing
• Understanding the users
• Focus on instructional design
• Explain how to do
• Support the use of the product

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Tasks of a usability engineer

• User goals/tasks analysis and profiling
• Competition analysis
• Product design and interface design
• Prototyping and evaluations
• Acceptance testing and evaluations
• Post release evaluations
• Consulting and training
• Consultancy

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Example profiles in usability
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ProfileUser researcher

• Focuses on behavioral and general information
  about the users.
• Typical background in psychology or cognitive
  sciences, communications.
• Conducts observations, focus groups and surveys.
  Defines general user profiles, goals, needs and
  expectations.
• Skills research methods, reporting, presentation.

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Profile Information architect

• Focuses on information design and structuring.
• Typical background in technical communications,
  journalism.
• Defines content flow and structure.
• Skills information analysis and chunking, mental
  models, interaction design.

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Profile Interface designer

• Focuses on the interaction design and the
  interface.
• Typical background in HCI, cognitive psychology,
  computer sciences.
• Defines interface interaction styles, elements,
  layouts.
• Skills interaction elements, mental models,
  platform specific guidelines

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Profile Usability evaluator

• Focuses on evaluations of prototypes and
  interfaces.
• Typical background cognitive psychology.
• Performes usability evaluations of the products,
  write reports and recommends improvements.
• Skills evaluating methods, report writing,
  presentations.

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Profile Visual designer

• Focuses on graphic design and icons.
• Typical background visual art, media and
  communications.
• Design visual elements, icons and layouts.
• Skills graphic design, colors, human perception.

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Skills to learn
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Skills to learn (1)

• Ergonomics and human behavior
• Cognitive sciences, human mental models
• User centered design process and general software
  development process
• Interaction theories, principles, guidelines
• Contextual analysis skills, usability
  evaluations, surveys, assessments
• Software tools

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Skills to learn (2)

• Direct and indirect manipulation methods
• Menu selections, form filling, dialog boxes
• Interaction devices
• Presentation styles
• Integration of UI, online help, manuals
• Various guidelines Windows, Motif, OS/2,
  Macintosh, Web

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What do you need to know about technology

• More than a technical writer, but less than a
  programmer.
• Understand the concepts behind each technology
• Understand the behavior as related to the user
  interaction
• Understand the context of use advantages and
  limitations

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Steps in the Transition

• Get yourself a mentor
• Decide which usability area suits you the most
• Learn the necessary skills
• Try to apply skills in practice
• Prepare a new resume
• Go out and look for a new job

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Examples of tasks and process
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Learning about your users

• Direct and indirect observations of users at
  workplace, home.
• Broad surveys with questionnaires.
• Working focus groups with users and other
  stakeholders.
• Brainstorming with users and developers about
  user needs, design, functionality.

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Analyzing and structuring the results

• Create user profiles/personas
• Write scenarios of use
• Create user/tasks matrix
• Identify objects and actions from scenarios
• Define behavior and attributes of the objects

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Specifying the interface

• Write detailed use cases/user tasks instructions
• Prepare interaction diagrams
• Create first prototypes
• Test prototypes with the users
• Iteratively improve the prototypes

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Usability evaluations

• Heuristic evaluation
• Cognitive and pluralistic walkthroughs
• Formal usability testing
• Reports writing and recommendations

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Consultancy work

• User research and behavior studies
• External usability evaluations
• Interface design
• Training and courses on usability
• Process and development consultancy

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Recommended Links
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Recommended Books and Articles

• Randolph G. Bias and Deborah J. Mayhew (Eds.)
  Cost-Justifying Usability. Boston Academic
  Press, 1994. ISBN 0-12-095810-4.
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• Joseph S. Dumas and Janice C. Redish. A Practical
  Guide to Usability Testing. Norwood, NJ Ablex
  Publishing, 1993. ISBN 0-89391-991-8.
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• JoAnn T. Hackos and Janice C. Redish. User and
  Task Analysis for Interface Design. New York
  Wiley, 1998. ISBN 0-471-17831-4.
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• Robert R. Johnson. User-Centered Technology A
  Rhetorical Theory for Computers and Other Mundane
  Artifacts. New York State University of New York
  Press, 1998. ISBN 0-7914-3932-1 (paperback).
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• Donald A. Norman. The Psychology of Everyday
  Things. New York Basic Books, 1988. ISBN
  0-465-06709-3. Also published as The Design of
  Everyday Things, 1990, Doubleday ISBN
  0-385-26774-6 (paperback).
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• Jeffrey Rubin. Handbook of Usability Testing How
  to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests. New
  York Wiley, 1994. ISBN 0-471-59403-2.
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• Barbara Mirel. Product, Process and Profit The
  Politics of Usability in a Software Venture. ACM
  Journal of Computer Documentation, Volume 24,
  Number 4, (November 2000)
•  
• Ben Schneiderman. Designing the User Interface.
  Addison Wesley, (1998).

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Thank you!

• Bogo Vatovec Consulting
• Improving Human Performance
• Knowledge Management
• Change Management
• Usability and User Interface Design
• Project Management
• Software Engineering

Contact Bogo Vatovec Stralauer Allee 17d 10245
Berlin Germany E-mail office_at_bovacon.de Phone
49 30 212 37 434 Mobile [phone]

• Services
• Consulting and training for all levels of company
  executives
• Analysis and assessment of needs and situation
  with recommendations
• Operational integration and implementation of
  methods in an organization
• Project management of complex change and IT
  projects
• Coaching on software engineering methods, Unified
  Process and Object-Oriented development