The Essentials of Great Search Design Search User Experience

As an enterprise search consultant Oslo, Norway

Working both public and private sector

I’ve learnt One very important thing

Search is a Wicked Problem Peter Morville, not me.

Enterprise Search is harder... High Ambitions Vague Goals Tight Budgets Even Tighter Deadlines

...than you would imagine Weak Infrastructure Legacy Systems Faulty Metadata Scanned Documents Convoluted Security

To solve it takes more than Clever Algorithms, Beautiful Code and Lots of Data

It requires Dialog and Cross - diciplinary Collaboration with

Stakeholders Product Owners Project Managers Sales/marketing Human Resources

Users Customers Employees Users Customers Employees flickr.com/papazimouris

Techies Sysadmins Programmers Web designers flickr.com/aaronvandike

To create something truly Efficient Usable Desirable

You need a process to explore requirements ahead of iterative development. IdeationImplementation Concept Development Technology Design Interaction Design Business GoalsUser Needs Technological Capabilities Product Backlog Inspiration

We call it Sprint 0

Stakeholder Interview User Interviews Personas & User Stories Technology Assessments Content Inventory Information Modelling Process Modelling Concept Sketching System Architecture Integration Testing Concept Review Wireframing Indexing Performance Testing Hardware & System Specification User Testing Revising Wireframes UI Prototype Prioritizing Product Backlog Final Report & Presentation All in just 4 weeks !

Business Value Technological Capabilities User Needs Interaction Designer Information Architect Systems Architect Process Innovation Emotional Innovation Functional Innovation It ’ s not an ego trip... Stakeholders TechiesUsers

1 Include Everybody in the design process !

Because we all see things a bit differently

What kind of designer are you?

2 Seek to unite Business Goals User Needs and Technological Possibilities

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” - Henry Ford Because innovation happens where diciplines intersect. flickr.com/sandcastlematt

3 Find the Problems that you need to solve later !

Because a weak foundation may topple your masterpiece. flickr.com/ijzerman

Okay... Let’s dive inn!

Seek inspiration flickr.com/nedrichards

Learn from Stakeholders what makes them Successful I Won ! flickr.com/photos/sepblog

Ask questions like: How do you know it's a problem? Who are most effected by the problem? How would you measure progress? What would show that you're successful? When do you need results?

Learn from Users what makes them Productive

Ask questions like: How is it like where you work? What tasks do you perform? When do you typically seek information? What is relevant information to you? Who recieves the information you find?

Learn from Techies what makes them Reassured

Ask questions like: Who uses the system and for what? What kind of documents does it contain? What’s the projected growth in data size? How are other systems integrated? How is access control managed?

Document the basis for your design decisions.

Document user needs as Personas and User Stories Age20 years RoleAccount manager BackgroundHigh school Computer Experience Much time online, Facebook, YouTube “I want an automatic search on the customer when a phone call comes in, so that all customer information in the CRM system automatically pops up on my screen.”

To help stakeholders make priorities. Work on these features NOW Work on these features LATER Work on these features later. MAYBE Ignore these features, possibly forever. HIGH Technical Feasibility LOW Technical Feasibility HIGH Benefit to Personas LOW Benefit to Personas

Organize entities, categories and facets in Information Models

To help users make sense of information

Sketch out concepts that integrate Personas, User Stories and Information Models.

Supported by Search ModesBehaviorsDesign Patterns Known-itemNarrowAuto-Complete ExplorationPearl GrowingBest Bet ResearchPogostickGuided Navigation Re-findingAgonizingUniversal Search ScanningPersonalization Pivot

Prototype and test the interaction design to discover potential usability issues.

Prototype and testthe technical design to discover potential bottle-necks and pitfalls. Fileserver load Faulty security mechanisms Dependencies with other systems

Let’s go over that Again...

1 Include Everybody in the design process !

2 Seek to unite Business Goals User Needs and Technological Possibilities

3 Find the Problems that you need to solve later !

Ask, try, learn, repeat... IdeationImplementation Concept Development Technology Design Interaction Design Business GoalsUser Needs Technological Capabilities Product Backlog Inspiration

We discover the best solutions Together

Presentation by: Vegard Sandvold Designer / Information Architect

[Tease Your Idea] Poor understanding and coordination of business goals, user needs and technological possibilites breeds confusion, conflict and disappointing failures. A balanced approach to design for great search user experience requires dialog and cross-diciplinary collaboration with stakeholders, users and techies.

Stakeholders