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Workshop 3
Cultivating A Climate for Creativity and Successful Design
Russell J. Branaghan, Karen Evans, Colette Motl
June 29, 1999, 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
When designing successful products, usability is not enough. A truly successful product will meet different success criteria for users, usability professionals, marketing professionals and other stakeholders. Our work takes place in a much larger context than simply usability. Our success is directly tied to understanding that context, and understanding the organizational requisites for product success. This workshop is aimed at identifying those factors, as well as the issues and challenges around them. We will discuss skills, roles, organizational structure, culture, communication, and personalities in interdisciplinary organizations that create successful products. We will also address how usability professionals can help to foster this success.
As usability professionals, we perform important work. We design and evaluate products to ensure that they are easy to learn, use and remember. We also ensure that they don't produce unnecessary errors. But when it comes to designing successful products, usability is not enough. For a product to be truly successful, it needs to have other characteristics as well. Further, different stakeholders have different criteria for product success.
To the user, the product needs to be useful (provide the functions and information the user needs to meet his or her goals), usable (provide adequate access to that functionality), and desirable (users should enjoy using the product, or should find the experience satisfying).
To a usability professional, success may mean that the product meets or exceeds users' expectations. To a marketing professional, success may mean that the product meets or exceeds profitability goals, or increases brand recognition, or increases the company's share of the market. To a designer, the product may need to be visually and structurally appropriate. To the company's controller, success may mean that the product yields decreased support and training costs.
The fact is that our work takes place in a much larger context, in which different stakeholders work towards their own definition of success. A truly successful product meets all (or at least most) of these criteria. To achieve this level of success, we must work with many people, possessing different personalities, skills, attitudes, ambitions and cultures. Providing the right organizational structure, communication and skill set is key to achieving product success. This workshop aims to identify those organization requisites for product success.
To apply, please write a 2 to 3 page position paper that includes the following:
- Your name, company, and contact information
- A brief description of your professional background
- A brief description of the company and organization (e.g., department) you belong to.
- Brief answers to four of the following nine questions:
- Describe the type of organization that is needed to create truly successful products.
- What are the biggest challenges to product success today?
- What is your definition of product success? How does it differ according to the various roles in your company?
- In your opinion, what skills are necessary to create a truly successful product? How does usability interact with the other people who have these skills?
- What changes in your organization would yield a substantial increase in product success? What is the role usability can play in that increase?
- In your opinion what are the key skills your organization has that increase your products' success?
- What skills is your organization missing, which decrease your chances of creating successful products>
- What would you like to get out of this workshop?
- What prejudices interfere with your organization's ability to create more successful products?
Registering for a Workshop
Workshops are closed sessions; you may register for a workshop only with
permission of the workshop organizer. To participate, send your
position paper to the address below by May 27, 1999. Electronic applications may be submitted in plain text (.txt), rich text format (.rtf), or Microsoft Word for Windows.
Although the workshop deadline is after the end of early registration, you
can still qualify for the early conference registration discount if you register during
the early registration period. Your registration should include the workshop
you are requesting. Workshop registration (which is not discounted based on
the registration date) will be processed when approved by the workshop coordinator.
Russ Branaghan
10350 Olentangy River Road
PO Box 360
Worthington, OH 43085
+1 614 841 2182
russell_branaghan@fitch.com
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