October Meeting Minutes - 10/2/08
Diana Criser-Burns
From: Diana Criser-Burns
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2008 9:00 AM
To: 'ugo-m...@googlegroups.com'
Subject: October Meeting Minutes - 10/2/08
UGO Meeting Minutes - Thursday, October 2, 5:30PM
Location: Securities America, Inc
In Attendance:
- Diana Criser-Burns - Securities America, Inc.
- Denise Weiss - Lincoln Financial Group
- Jason Hochwender - Union Pacific
- Dave Davies - Stratcom
UGO Google Group Updates:
- It's hard to believe that UGO has been existence for an entire year already! Please access the following survey to let us know your preferences for the upcoming year: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=KWXeWL3G5AiGdpscQP9bbA_3d_3d
- Spam Mail - The recent rash of spam mail we saw several weeks ago has not been seen since. While messages sent to this group email address were already restricted to come from members only, the spammers must have found a way around this requirement; I have reported these instances to the powers that be at Google Groups. To further protect our members from unsolicited messages, I have changed the settings on our group to not allow any messages through without my personal review. This should prevent any future unauthorized contact masquerading as an official [UGO Members] message.
- Book list/RSS Feed List - At our last meeting in July, we distributed a hardcopy list of books and RSS feeds on the subject of User Experience and other related topics. These lists have now been posted to the UGO Google Group web site, at http://groups.google.com/group/ugo-members/web/usability-book-list?hl=en and http://groups.google.com/group/ugo-members/web/usability-rss-feeds?hl=en respectively. Please check out these links, and feel free to comment on or add to them as you see fit. All group members currently have permissions to create and modify pages on our site; if you have other non-copyrighted information on related topics you would like to post for the group, please feel free to do so (a limited knowledge of HTML is necessary). If you need something posted on your behalf, please send your request directly to me and I will ensure it gets out there.
- Reminder: sample UGO Group Email Invite text is also available on the site. Please feel free to invite friends, colleagues or others that would benefit from association with our group! The posted email text is not required - it is just a starting point - so, modify it as much as you like! All new members can register themselves; a formal invitation from a member is not currently required.
HFI Certified Usability Analyst of the Month:
- Congratulations to one of our own UGO Group members, Christopher "Fletch" Fletcher from Election Systems & Software (ES&S) for being selected HFI's Certified Usability Analyst of the Month! I stumbled across this article while catching up on some much-neglected User Experience research last week: http://www.humanfactors.com/training/chris_fletcher.asp
Round Robin topic - The importance of a User Experience focus:
- Interface "transparency" - how the deliverable is not a new application as much as a tool needed to complete a task.
- "Gold Plating" not in the requirements tends to add another layer of complexity, making the product harder to use and to test
- User Experience services require strong advocacy and must constantly be "sold" to decision makers.
- While it is most beneficial when brought in at the beginning of the SDLC, a limited subset of activities, such as heuristic evaluation, can be beneficial at any part of the process - a "menu" of Usability activities appropriate to each part of the SDLC may help as a sales aid.
Application Review - Lincoln Financial's "Producer Journey" presented by Denise Weiss:
- Producer Journey is a wiki-based application which provides department contact and workflow information to internal front-line support personnel.
- Denise used a combination of one-on-one interviews, card sorting techniques and screen concepts to uncover the true User needs.
- Denise was able to use the data she gathered with upper management to change directions on the product deliverable, even though money had already been spent on development of a "FaceBook-style" application.
- Due to resource constraints, Denise wore many hats during this project - from User Researcher to Visual Designer to CSS Developer.
- The result is a consistent, well-organized, attractive application that can be updated by designated personnel in each department.
- Fantastic job, Denise! This was a great example of the proper application of User Research techniques!
Upcoming Meetings: Details to be announced.
Diana Criser-Burns
Product Consultant III, Field Technology
Securities America Information Services
Securities America, Inc., a Registered Broker/Dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Securities America Advisors, Inc., an SEC Registered Investment Advisory firm.
The text of this communication is confidential, and use by any person who is not the intended recipient is prohibited. Any person who receives this communication in error is requested to immediately destroy the text of this communication without copying or further dissemination. Your cooperation is appreciated.
Diana Criser-Burns
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 4:17 PM