This week we held the first usability study on DriveWorks in quite some time, which basically means we sat in a room with some coffee, a laptop, a projector, and a DriveWorks CD and then we asked "Why?". We asked "Why?" a lot.
"Why is that there?" "Why do we make them do that?" - that sort of thing, testing usability is something we very strongly believe in the importance of.
Two fairly major product-level examples of changes that are direct results of this usability testing are the wizards for groups and projects. At the moment, getting to the point of actually doing some of that über cool automation stuff is kinda like picking your way through a Sudoku puzzle. If you've got a process, Sudoku isn't too bad (so I'm told), but if you are seeing it for the first time; the gut feeling is to quickly find an excuse to do something else.
For example, as far as projects go, who really knows what the difference is between a CAD based project, and a folder based project in DriveWorks?
If anyone has their hand up at this point, I'd appreciate a response, because I sure don't, and if I can't satisfactorily explain it to myself, something is somewhat amiss.
So, going forward, the default project type will be folder based, or "Standard Project" as they will now be called - because they can do everything CAD based projects can, and are easier to use. It's a no-brainer.
As for those pesky CAD based projects, they get relegated to second place with the catchy name of "Legacy Project", and I really won't miss them.
Now, the astute may have noticed I deliberately used the term "product-level" - the product is really only part of the package - a package which also happens to include help files, documents, training, support.
All of which basically involve trying to get across concepts and ideas, which brings me to one of my favorite stories, it's called "Tappers and Listeners", and if you do nothing else today, go and read it at http://www.madetostick.com/thebook/excerpts.php, it's about 2/3rds of the way down.
It is a real eye-opener and it has a message which I think is really important - you know too much. You know how your products are built, you know that if you do X whilst holding down Y with your eyes crossed under the light of a blue moon, that Z will happen - you know what you are supposed to do.
All of which adds up to mean that when you try to explain it to the guy across from you, you are going to be talking in very different terms. This is something that most of us, if not all of us are guilty of, and probably more than once a day.
We're on the case - so far we've made over 20 usability related enhancements in the last week alone, and it is an area we are working hard on.
So, send us your feedback, help us build the product you use the way you want to use it, and let us know when we are just tapping way to ourselves.
