StackOverflow2013

Note that there are some explanatory texts on larger screens.

plurals

PO
text
Body
copied!<p>What tools are used in the trade? Rapid prototyping tools that result in throwaway prototypes. Prototypes should be accessible by the entire team, and rough, so that the team is not tempted to use them as final code. I use both Balsamiq and Axure RP Professional for different purposes. Balsamiq is great for quick mockups that aid communication and collaboration. It's a low-stakes way of getting an idea out, and showing that you are not wedded to it yet. Axure is great for demonstrating complex interactions with the team, and aids in collaborating with developers and business partners. As a student, you can get Axure for free (they have a good student discount).</p> <p>If you focus on learning programming deeply, you might find yourself thinking of constraints and technical limitations, or how much work it will be to deliver the experience you want to deliver for the user. This could work against you. This is why the companies that have hired me to do user experience work have absolutely no expectation that I do any coding. They expect my focus to be on the workflow and the overall user experience. I can propose multiple options and the development team can then hang a price tag on each one. It is up to the product owner to select the one that they want to invest in.</p> <p>The DePaul program in HCI that I am currently finishing requires all UX students to take 1 scripting class and basic HTML, just so we can empathize a bit with developers, and so we can create basic websites. </p> <p>What is expected of you to help users and programmers?</p> <p><strong>For users:</strong> empathy and listening skills. You'll need to watch them use software, in context of their lives, and probably their job functions. You'll need to listen with your filter on, and find out what they are really saying. They may ask for something very specific that they think will solve their problem, but if you probe a little deeper you might find out that they are solving a symptom of a deeper problem. If you can find out what the deeper problem is, that could trigger a cascade of big improvements. At my last job, users kept asking for "more notes fields". We had some screen-sharing sessions and discovered that what they were really asking for was not more notes, but the ability to edit a note while still maintaining an audit trail of every note ever entered. Had we just delivered more notes fields, we would have just created an inelegant workaround to the actual problem.</p> <p><strong>For programmers:</strong> listening skills, collaboration skills. Developers have great ideas about design and interaction, because in my experience they are high-input individuals who enjoy using software, so they are exposed to a lot of it and will enjoy collaborating with you, as long as you include them early on in your explorations.</p>

Querying!

Guidance

An individual column

Larger individual text columns get their own page to allow for proper reading.

SQuiL has stopped working due to an internal error.

If you are curious you may find further information in the browser console, which is accessible through the devtools (F12).

Reload