Media Coverage | 2001 Archive

New Media Age: When it's good to feel used

It is deeply encouraging to see usability being given so much exposure in the press at present. It is an under-used but invaluable discipline which should be a hygiene factor of every consumer, and business proposition, be it hardware, software, PDA or PC based.

Usability being recognised as a worthy profession is still a long way off. It looks set to suffer similar growing pains to every other Web-related function that went before. Self-confessed 'experts' with a focus group of ill-defined targets, a couple of bottles of wine and a few kettle chips do not, and cannot, constitute a thorough investigation of the usability of a Web site, interactive TV presence, Bluetooth technology or on-board telematics.

As the momentum builds with opportunists spotting the 'window', every agency, consultancy and individual are claiming possession of 'lab facilities' and 'rigorous testing procedures'. So we're back among the smoke and mirrors. It looks like clients are to be disappointed and become sceptical of a valuable discipline through bitter experience.

We need to head this off at the pass. Educate clients, explaining exactly what usability is and what it encompasses. Make sure groups like the recently formed London Usability Professionals Association impose standards and controls that vet their members. I echo the sentiment of UPA VP Catriona Campbell, who insists that members should be able to demonstrate academic and business skills, experience in relevant fields and attend with a client testimonial as to their abilities to deliver in this field.

The central challenge that usability as a discipline faces is to differentiate those who deliver valuable consumer insights and value to clients from those who make a fast buck from clients' lack of familiarity or understanding.

Usability studies aren't a new fad. In fact, they derive from the era of the fighter pilot and the requirements to make aircraft equipment user friendly. No-one can deny that if someone can't use a product or service, however beneficial, labour-saving or life-enhancing it may be, they simply won't use it.

Human factor engineering, consumer insights, cognitive psychology and research are all factors which, when brought together in a relevant mix, can increase the success and ROI of any new or existing proposition. The cyclical testing and re-testing of how and to what extent a strategy has proved successful in practise is as vital as the initial strategy and it consequential deployment.

Any party with a business model or revenue stream which is reliant on building or rebuilding a Web site, interactive TV entity or application, can't be objective in either their recommendations or usability testing. The best advice comes from the party that gets paid as much for saying 'don't do it' as 'do it'.

Usability is vital, but be sure of your suppliers' credentials and their understanding of your consumers and technology. The next research house that claims your users want a 'plastic agnostic' solution may well have a heritage in research, but fall perilously short on understanding the platform you're using to reach them.

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© The Usability Company 2007