Go Beyond Creating Content: Influence the User's Experience
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The document discusses the importance of technical writers in influencing user experience beyond merely creating content. It emphasizes the need for writers to understand user experience concepts, establish user profiles, and utilize tools like journey maps and usability tests to enhance the user interface. Ultimately, it advocates for collaboration and empathy in the design process to improve overall user satisfaction.
Go Beyond Creating Content: Influence the User's Experience
- 1. Go Beyond Creating Content: Influence the User’s Experience MICHELLE M GARDNER Information Developer, Micro Focus @michmgardner #stc16 beyond creating content: you can influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 2. Michelle… who? Technical Writer +20 years UH Information Technology Information Services Sulzer Intermedics Product or Marketing Manager +20 years Sulzer Intermedics S&S Technology NeuroTherm Best of both worlds +8 years Information Developer at Micro Focus beyond creating content: you can influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 3. Writers Can Be User Advocates writers have the basic skills; we just need a deeper understanding of UX concepts and methods go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 4. The Design Process Introduction to UX by EffectiveUI, a user experience agency go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 5. You Have the Skills Target content to specific readers Organize information according to user needs Think from the user’s perspective (not software engineers) go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 6. You Need the Knowledge Usability User experience User profiles and personas Journey maps Usability tests go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 7. What are Usability and User Experience? user experience is not a synonym for usability go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 8. Usability focuses on go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 what and how
- 9. go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 “Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use.” Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D. User Advocate, Nielsen Norman Group “Usability 101: Introduction to Usability”
- 10. User Experience focuses on the user’s emotions go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 http://limitlessgood.com/pages/lets-feel-good
- 11. go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 User Experience
- 12. •target users •define users Branding go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 User Experience
- 13. •user tests •journey maps •target users •define users Branding Usability go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 User Experience
- 14. •design •architecture •user tests •journey maps •target users •define users Branding Usability Functionality go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 User Experience
- 15. •design •architecture •strategies •targeted content •user tests •journey maps •target users •define users Branding Usability FunctionalityContent go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 User Experience
- 16. go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 17. Hierarchy of Needs – the User Experience Model Stephen P. Anderson Seductive Integration Design go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 18. No. 1 element in user experience beyond creating content: you can influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 19. No. 1 element in the user experience beyond creating content: you can influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 20. Profiling Your Users your product might have one type of user or several, but you must know (and love) each of them go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 21. Get to Know Your Users Interact with users Interview subject matter experts (SMEs) Review web analytics go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 22. Without asking “why?” there can be no “here’s how to make it better.” --Seth Godin The Big Moo Keep Asking Questions
- 23. Question Your Assumptions go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 24. Minimum: You Need to Know What How Why go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 25. Learn as Much as You Can go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 26. Understand their Pain Points go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 27. go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 “Focus on the user and all else will follow.” Google’s philosophy Ten things we know to be true
- 28. Help the Team Focus on Users go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 29. User Profile go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 www.groton-ct.gov
- 30. Sample User Persona go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 DesignHooks
- 31. Create a Story about Each User
- 32. “What and how are the facts. Why is the emotion.” Simon Sinek Author of Start With Why TED Talk: “How great leaders inspire action”
- 33. Map the User’s Journey walk in the user’s shoes go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 34. go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 “Don’t make me think!” Steve Krug Advanced Common Sense Don’t Make Me Think
- 35. Put Yourself in Your User’s Shoes
- 36. Understand Journey Maps go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 37. go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 38. go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 JourneyMapsfromStanfordd.school Journey Map Example: Coffee Purchase
- 39. Sample Journey Map – MS Excel User Journey: Describes the journey that this user will take Persona: Details and motivations that drive this persona for this journey Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Key Journey Steps Actions/thoughts What does the user expect / need? Could this step have been avoided? What could make it better? Questions Notes go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 40. When to Journey Map go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 PLAN DESIGN POST RELEASERELEASE Project Schedule TEST
- 41. Tools for Journey Mapping Post-it notes White board Microsoft Excel PowerPoint Any way that enables you to describe the user’s journey to others go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 42. Perform Usability Tests you can help improve the user experience with do-it-yourself usability testing and QA testing that uses the profiles / personas go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 43. Rules for Simple User Testing Get representative users Ask them to perform representative tasks with the design Shut up and let the users do the talking Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 44. User Testing that You Can Do A morning a month, that’s all we ask Start earlier than you think makes sense Recruit loosely and grade on a curve Make it a spectator sport Focus ruthlessly on a small number of the most important problems When fixing problems, always do the least you can do Steve Krug’s Rocket Surgery Made Easy go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 45. DIY Testing Needs… Moderator Note taker Test participants Observers
- 46. How Do I Choose Tasks? What do you want to learn? New features Feature itself Larger process in which the feature fits Common tasks; critical tasks Anything you or team members question “Can people figure out how to do this task without reading any documentation?” Make sure stakeholders agree Fit within 1 hour
- 47. During the Test Think-aloud protocol Be thoughtful and empathetic Let the participant struggle Remember: You test the software, not the participant
- 48. Debrief After the Tests go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 Prioritize Agree 2 510 1 4 10 5 5 Identify
- 49. 1 2 4 5 5 4 2 1 Biggest Bang for the Buck Least Bang for the Buck Easiest to Fix Hardest to Fix Fix first Get these over and done with Important to fix Usually not worth fixing Decide which Issues to Fix go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 50. Usability Test Process go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 recruit participants review task wording gather materials run a pilot test moderate three tests moderate the debriefing
- 51. Become a User Advocate the product’s user experience benefits when input comes from multiple disciplines go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 52. You Can Influence the UX go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 Create profiles / personas Identify tasks / processes by persona Map a feature or a process Perform a DIY usability test for a feature
- 53. Get in the Process Cajole, inveigle, demand to join the development process Show them the value of knowing your users Show them that knowledge of user experience and usability helps improve the product It takes time It requires collaboration go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 54. go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 “Creativity…comes through the interaction of different disciplinary ways of seeing things.” Ted Robinson Author and Creativity Expert TED Talk: “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”
- 55. Encourage Your Team To go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 Empathize with your users Use the product like your users Include journey maps in planning Do usability tests before coding
- 56. Based on Introduction to UX by EffectiveUI, a user experience agency go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16 Empathize review user personas share user stories Define create journey maps identify pain points Ideate ask questions question assumptions apply the maps Prototype organize the UI review UI content Test perform usability tests
- 57. Remember: you can influence the user experience at all stages of the design & development process go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 58. Thank you Michelle M Gardner Information Developer, Micro Focus go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16
- 59. References and Resources Jakob Nielsen’s Usability 101: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to- usability/ The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett: http://www.jjg.net/elements/ Seductive Interaction Design by Stephen P Anderson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U- SNVLGBh5o User interview questions: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/a-closer-look-at- personas-part-2/ Don’t Make Me Think and Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug: https://www.sensible.com/ “Introduction to UX”: http://www.slideshare.net/effectiveui/introduction-to-ux?qid=4b66b853- 9a9e-48fc-9740-a4ec76c8a971&v=&b=&from_search=9 Journey Maps from Stanford d.school: https://vimeo.com/78554759 User Persona Creator: https://xtensio.com/user-persona/ Personas: The Foundation of a Great User Experience: https://uxmag.com/articles/personas-the- foundation-of-a-great-user-experience “An introduction to personas for technical authors” by Neil Rutner: http://www.uxforthemasses.com/intro-personas/ The Essential Persona Lifecycle by John Pruitt and Tamara Adlin: https://www.elsevier.com/ go beyond creating content: influence the user’s experience @michmgardner #stc16