The Approach
"In many ways, the UX designer's process is their true skillset.
Their techniques and problem-solving skills are the tools of the trade." (creativebloq.com)
In my role as certified Design Thinking Trainer at IBM I am responsible for establishing
user centric methods internally and externally on customer projects.
The complete description of this approach can be found under
https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/
and is the guiding light for many of our projects.
The following steps shall give an impression how to deliver the right output
for the different stages of Observe, Reflect and Make.
Their techniques and problem-solving skills are the tools of the trade." (creativebloq.com)
In my role as certified Design Thinking Trainer at IBM I am responsible for establishing
user centric methods internally and externally on customer projects.
The complete description of this approach can be found under
https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/
and is the guiding light for many of our projects.
The following steps shall give an impression how to deliver the right output
for the different stages of Observe, Reflect and Make.
U S E R C E N T R I C
Remote Tower, a project I worked for at Frequentis, definitely has the potential to change the Air Traffic industry and its paradigms. The idea is simple and effective - take some low frequented airports and control them via cameras on a certain location. This means, on remote controlled airports are NO controllers on site.
Our idea at Frequentis was to add military prooven infrared cameras with functionalities such as tracking, pan-tilt-zoom, laser distance measurement, etc. and connect this with our Tower and Airport solutions. It all started with a few mockups and some screenshots ...
Our idea at Frequentis was to add military prooven infrared cameras with functionalities such as tracking, pan-tilt-zoom, laser distance measurement, etc. and connect this with our Tower and Airport solutions. It all started with a few mockups and some screenshots ...
- My Responsibilities were Prototyping, Human Factors, User Experience and User Interface Design, Customer contacts and lots of presentations
- Company: Frequentis, AirTraffic Management
1. On Site Analysis
Analyzing operational workflows on site is a key factor for any successful prototype. Sitting behind users and watching them, using our or other systems, definitly creates the biggest benefit for all kinds of system improvements.
The On Site Analysis creates a typical WIN-WIN situation. Customers feel appreciated and can take direct influence on product improvements. For the company it is essential, because you gather domain know how and understand what your users are doing and WHY they are doing it.
The On Site Analysis creates a typical WIN-WIN situation. Customers feel appreciated and can take direct influence on product improvements. For the company it is essential, because you gather domain know how and understand what your users are doing and WHY they are doing it.
"We all appreciated your talents to bring our raw HMI thoughts into the brilliant look and feel they now have."
Guillaume Broion, Skyguide Suisse
Guillaume Broion, Skyguide Suisse
2. Story Maps
"The new backlog is a story map", Jeff Patton was cited in Agile Experience Design.
Story maps are a perfect bridge between a Design Thinking workshop and the following Agile implementation,
because it creates the base for an initial backlog.
On the horizontal axis we list the story in a chronological way. The vertical axis shows the level of detail. Normally you start this session with a brainstorming or a Story Telling session, then you try to sort it in the described way. At the end you mark all items on the vertical axis you want to achieve for your MVP (minimum viable prototype)
Story maps are a perfect bridge between a Design Thinking workshop and the following Agile implementation,
because it creates the base for an initial backlog.
On the horizontal axis we list the story in a chronological way. The vertical axis shows the level of detail. Normally you start this session with a brainstorming or a Story Telling session, then you try to sort it in the described way. At the end you mark all items on the vertical axis you want to achieve for your MVP (minimum viable prototype)
3. Workshops
Outcome is key. With the Enterprise Design Thinking format, the focus lies on the following steps:
- Build up empathy
- Create an As-Is-Scenario
- Produce big ideas, based on the current pains and gains
- Define a To-Be-Scenario
- Build paper prototypes and test them
- Define Story maps
4. Human Factors
are traditionally seen as an umbrella term for usability and user experience. What I faced in the last couple of years was Ergonomics, based on standards (ICAO, FAA, ISO, DefStan), Cognitive load, Situational awareness. I have seen users refusing systems not only once, because of a lack of ergonomics, e.g. Touchscreens at the far left, On screen keyboards on vertically oriented touch screens , 4 keyboards and 3 mice on one table, labelled with different sticky notes.
Human Factors can be crucial for all kinds of industry projects.
Human Factors can be crucial for all kinds of industry projects.
The working position of our Remote Tower setup, is originally based on human factors research and considerations. Viewing angles, distances etc. lead to a very lean arrangement, compared to other concepts. With these arguments we could strongly differentiate to our competitors, who covered the user with a monitor wall of almost 360°.
4. Lo-Fi Prototype
I really love paper prototyping, although it has it's disadvantages. Besides archiving and storing your stuff, you are mostly limited to users on site. But that's not always helpful, because sometimes you need input and feedback from people outside, who maybe live in different time zones. Well... I thought a lot about this issue and here is how I tried to solve it with a simple video-paper-prototype installation. All you need is a flipchart, your webcam, some magnets, the prototype, the tasks and ... users.
- Take your paper prototype and prepare it, so that it works also, when you pin it to a wall.
In my example I tinkered a bit and cut a window out of carton. Behind that I let run different content pages. - Switch on your camera and be sure that the prototype fits well in the picture.
Let some space on the side, to add your tasks later on. - Get a flipchart and pin your paper prototype with magnets on it, as seen on the picture below.
- Try out, if your prototype still works correctly, when pinned. Try to avoid too much disturbance during the test session.
- Write down the tasks, you want your user to go through and pin them besides your prototype. Check again with the camera image, everything shall fit on the picture.
- Make a short test run, to see if everything works correctly.
- Set back your whole scenario, so that you can start with TASK 1.
- Let in the crowd.
- And here is a trick for the mouse pointer: Take a pencil and move it inside the camera picture.
- Ask the user where he or she wants the "pointer" to go. When the user wants to confirm, he or she can say "Click".
It's quite easy, when you've done it once. So, try it out and collect user data.
5. Hi-Fi Prototype
based on the results of the survey should be one thing after all: Fun. If I don't experience fun while bringing ideas to reality, maybe something is wrong. As soon as I accepted that failure is an effective way to proceed, I became a lot more productive.
I have to admit, I am an AXURE enthusiast and I always try to push the boundaries of this tool.
The results you can achive there are awesome.
I have to admit, I am an AXURE enthusiast and I always try to push the boundaries of this tool.
The results you can achive there are awesome.
6. Test
Prototypes allow you to gather feedback in early stages from your potential users.
Testing, anaylzing the results, redesigning and starting from the beginning. It's always this iteration, therefore "Quantity leads to Quality" (Bill Buxton). When no users are available and a quick test is necessary, then an Expert Review is a very useful method. Invite your collegues to a formal review and collect as much feedback as possible.
Analyzing the output of User Tests can be very time consuming. For my opinion there are two reasons why real user testing is done so rarely in enterprises:
- It's done too late and no one has time to fix any inputs from the test
- The analyze phase is so time consuming, that most collegues do it once, but then never again
- Immediately Successful
- Successful, after some time or with hints
- Not successful
- Is it 100% green? Then you are done with it and must not improve it
- Does it have more than one cyan (>= 2 of 10)? Take a closer look to your comments
- Does it have at least one fail? Fix it and find out what went wrong in your comments
The clou for me here is that the diagram gives you immediately information about the status of your task.
The comments give you detailed info about what was going on and what went wrong.
This saved a lot of time for us and is meanwhile standard at Automic User Tests.
7. User Interface Design
Visual Design in enterprises is normally based on Design Guidelines. I personally learn a lot out of standards from FAA or ISO. Johannes Itten is a wonderful source for learning color basics.
8. Deliverables
In mid of 2015 the DFS (company in charge of air traffic control in Germany) signed a contract for their first remotely operated towers, delivered by FREQUENTS. Estimated budget, appr. 5 Mio Euro.
And all this started with a few mockups and screenshots...
And all this started with a few mockups and screenshots...
Responsible for the content: Erhard Wimmer, Abelstrasse 11, 4082 Aschach - Design Thinking for Industries - 2015
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