1. www.bmc.com BMC Software Confidential Copyright 2002 All rights reserved. Usability Design using “The Bridge” March 2004

2. BMC Software Confidential Copyright 2002  Structured workflows  Understanding from the user’s perspective of their work  The breath of a user’s work  How a user thinks about tasks he/she performs in his/her day to day job  The areas that cause a user the greatest headaches  Ways that users would like to perform the work if they had their way  User interface objects  Paper prototyped screens What Do the Bridge Artifacts Produce?

3. BMC Software Confidential Copyright 2002 Description of the Process  Generate a Big Picture All of the tasks performed in day to day activities by a user Categorized and prioritized  Current Workflows For each of the major task categories specified in the Big Picture Users identify the problem areas  Blue Sky Ideal workflow that solves each of the identified problems in the current workflows Prioritize the features developed in the Blue Sky  Realistic Workflow The workflow that the product team thinks they can support in the next release

4. BMC Software Confidential Copyright 2002 Benefits  Collaborative Lets all areas of the team have the same basic working assumptions Tech writers can write task oriented help from a user’s work perspective Developers can code smarter by understanding the business needs  Is User Focused Users are involved and define their work (who knows it better?)  Keeps Focus out of the Details at the Early Phases We tend to focus on the technical details and loose sight of the original requirement