Usability

As I was hiking on my recent holiday trying to give my mind a rest, it occurred to me how easy it is to become fixated; trying to improve within a narrow band but lose the plot. I think this happens within the IT industry frequently. For example, Usability becomes fixated on user interfaces (screens). It seems as if most analysts automatically assume to convert paper form shuffling to electronic form shuffling. Isn't a system more usable if there is less of it to have to use.

Can the forms be removed altogether? Customers enter their details on-line once. Systems are integrated to remove data re-entry. Rules engines are used to process information. Perhaps the system simply notifies someone by email if there is an exception with pre-meditated choices of action. An Information Architect should first attempt to remove all visible traces of the system before starting to design any user interface.

Secondly, the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Mouse, Pull-down menus) style dominates current user interface design. Xerox first developed the familiar user interface adopted first by Macs and then Microsoft with Windows. However, the design was developed with reviewing documents on-line in mind. Xerox wanted a more intuitive user interface for users to reviews documents WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) before printing to paper. However, we already know that use of a mouse and pull-down menus slows down data entry. Perhaps some other user interface using email or SMS is appropriate for action orientated systems. If you can reduce the number of data entry clerks and people behind a desk then systems can be designed that better support people engaged in face to face interaction.

In the words of Antoinè De Saint-Exupéry, "A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."