Message Design and Content Creation 3 January 2006 Kathy E. Gill

Agenda Introductions (new class members) Review: Nature of Design and Teams Overview : PM/UCD Team/Project Discussion Leaders Team exercise

1. Nature of Design and Teams

2. Overview: PM/UCD The Challenge One Possible Answer Benefits The Process Summary

The Challenge Only 28 percent of IT projects are delivered on schedule and within budget Only one-sixth software projects completed on time and within budget

The Challenge, cont’d One-third of complex software projects fail, costing U.S. companies $81 billion Cost overruns add another $59 billion Of the challenged or cancelled projects, the average was 189%over budget, 222% behind schedule and contained only 61% of the originally specified features

Answering the Challenge Projects fail because “the system did not meet user needs” Enter: User-Centered Design  Central tenet: who is the audience?  Not a “step” but a “process”

Value for Investment $1 invested in usable software = $ in benefits 80% of maintenance costs are due to unforeseen user requirements; only 20% due to failures

Relevance and Impact Productivity - People and Systems  Call-centers, e-commerce web sites User Perception  Tivo v Replay, VCR Plus Training Cost  Large component of new implementation Cost of Errors  Medical errors, airplane crashes

An Engineering Approach (1/3) Concept  Determine objectives – clearly identify audience(s) Basic Design  Functional specification (hardware, software, human); requirements; task analysis

An Engineering Approach (2/3) Interface Design  Apply empirical data, mathematical functions, experience, principles, population measures, and design standards Production  Integrate production requirements, test, and update

An Engineering Approach (3/3) Deployment  Investigate use, modify, evaluate Follow up  Procedures, product evolution

And Yet … The process is NOT linear! Nor is it a “waterfall” (a traditional software development process)

UCD: ISO Provides a clear understanding of the ‘context of use’: users, tasks and environment Iteration of design solutions using prototypes Active involvement of real users Multi-disciplinary design

Then Why Is It So Hard? No accepted/agreed-upon structure for web/digital media design teams No industry-wide standard for web project management Cross-functional teams have disparate working/communicating styles

Some Keys to Making UCD Work Have the right project manager  Organizes resources: team, equipment, $  Leads development of all deliverables : audience definition, functional spec, etc  Creates overall project plan  Ensures workflow works  Figures out how to stay in budget  Coordinates Communication

PM Resources Project Management Institute, Association for Project Management (UK), International Project Management Assn.,

Steps (1/2) ID Goals (audience, client) Determine Stakeholders (define) Research Market (needs, competition, etc) ID Team Roles, Responsibilities

Steps (2/2) Create Project Workflow (w/milestones)  Creative Tasks  Technical Tasks  Admin Tasks  Marketing Tasks ID QA Concerns Manage Scope Creep!

Summary Good interface design enables increase in productivity, reduction in errors, and better user experience The key to good design is customer- focus

3. Team/Project Review Team Matrix. Refine (narrow) your “I’d Like To” … and “I Wouldn’t Like To” statements to me. Discuss parks v immigrant experience  Why NFP is not possible

4. Discussion Leaders How would y’all like to be grouped into four reading groups? Each will have one week to read additional material and lead discussion, beginning next week

5. Exercises WAMAYC Review website examples

Exercise - WAMAYC Win As Much As You Can  Relevant to groups, departments, firms, industries and countries  Structure (rules, plans, incentive systems, stratification, culture) and Process (communication, trust, Confucian Dynamism)  Cooperation versus Conflict – Classic Prisoner’s Dilemma (game theory)

WAMAYC – groups Getting Started:  Each participant forms a dyad with another participant.  Four dyads make up a cluster. We should have two clusters.  “Floaters” as observers

WAMAYC – rules Communication between dyads not permitted! Dyads announce decisions simultaneously Start Now!

WAMAYC – process Iterated versus “one-shot” game  learning and equilibrium  tit for tat  altruism as cooperation

WAMAYC – post-notes Note the role of:  Culture, trust  Incentives  Rules and rule breaking  Benchmarking, measurability  Control (outcome vs. process)  People (temperament, leadership, chemistry)  Learning

Team Tasks Two structured exercises Pick recorder for this session  Review STP for your project  Determine team contact method  Review project deliverables documentproject deliverables document  Begin discussing roles Leave when done ;-)

Next Week: Finalize Team, Project, Roles Task Identification