usability for government: improving service delivery

Usability for Government: improving service delivery

Ruth Ellison & Adrian Newton 

Local Government Web Network Conference 2008

22 August 2008

Introduction

People Feel

People

Cameron Adams ‐Web Design:

Print = visualWeb = interactive

Interaction : behaviour : feelings 

People

People

Satisfaction?

Relief?

Impressed?

But probably not happy...

People

Confusion

Frustration

Anger

Brian Hardy‐ Accessibility:

” Put the user in control ”

People

Involve users in design:

‐What do they want?

‐ How do they want to do it?

People

Collaborative design extends beyond the user.

Boundaries

Governments:

‐ Large, conservative bureaucracies

‐ Hierarchically structured

‐ Functionally organised

Boundaries

Functional silos distance stakeholders from each other

Boundaries

Silos reflect functional specialisation.

Boundaries

Build synergy through cross‐functional teaming.

Boundaries

80% of Australians now use the internet

Stats from Nielsen Online, March 2008

Boundaries

59% of Australians internet users have contacted Government at least once in the past 12 months

Stats from Australians’ use of and satisfaction with e‐Government Services 2007, AGIMO December 2008

Boundaries

User expectations are evolving:‐ 61% locality based information online‐ 60% ask/answer questions by email‐ 29% live chat while browsing‐ 27% personalise government sites‐ 11% access services by mobile

Boundaries

Source: Demographic Profiling of Victorian Government Website Visitors 2007

” Culture is cultivated behaviour ”Texas A&M University

Cultivate behaviour by transmitting experience through learning

Culture

Adapt approach:

‐ Communicate

‐ Integrate

‐ Iterate

Culture

Joanna Lewis – IA

” It’s not about Town Hall... ”

Adapt your services by engaging your users.

Culture

Embed usability.

Culture

What is usability?

I'm as confused about this intersection as that sign is....By sweeneytoad from http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweeneytoad/344506101/Available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Hmmm... By aturkus from http://www.flickr.com/photos/aturkus/395919628/Available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Red route ‐ Road signs on my way to workby Gaetan Lee from http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaetanlee/152102309/ Available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

“Usability really just means making sure that something works well”Steve Krug

Lets take a look at paying rates via the internet

Meet Jenny

Wants to pay her rates online

Needs to create an account before she can pay her rates

Interrupted by baby Lachlan

Pick Sam from school

It’s not that simple

It’s more than just a simple function

It’s now about people

Time is precious

Time is money

What type of user experience do you want your residents to have?

We need to design effective and holistic user experiences

“Design is not decoration”Garr Reynolds

Consider the user experience right from the beginning

Take a user centred approach

Research

Flip‐flops by theogeo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/theogeo/619457456Available under a Creative Commons Attribution  2.0 Generic license

Who are your users?

Flip‐flops by Joe Shlabhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/3

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Gen

Many different techniquesUnderstand the business

Understand the users

Understand the content

Understanding the businessStakeholder interviewsRequirements analysis

Understanding the usersContextual enquiry

Mom’s desktop.. By striatic aturkus from http://www.flickr.com/photos/striatic/131932697/Available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Understanding the users

Surveys

Understanding the usersPersonas

Archetypes that represent the main user groups of a site

Understanding the usersScenarios

Short story about a user interacting with a site

Understanding the contentContent audit

“A mind‐numbingly detailed odyssey through your web site”Jeffrey Veen

52

User Goals Business Goals

What users want to achieve by using your website

What the business wants to achieve by releasing the

website

Designing with users

Design

Information design

Interaction design

Visual design

55

Card sortingDesigning with users

Example only

Wireframes

57

Designing with users

Example only

Visual treatment

Evaluate

“Fortune 1000 companies each spend an average of $2 million per year on site redesigns, without knowing if the redesign made the site easier to use.” Forrester Research

Evaluation techniques

Expert review

Usability testing – formal & guerrilla 

Standards checking

Evaluating ‐ Expert review

Review design against industry standards, heuristics and current research

Examples from Jakob Nielsen:Error prevention

Consistency & standards

Match between system and the real world

Evaluating – Usability testing

Evaluating – Standards checking

10 tips to take away

Tip #1 

Think about who your users are

“Know thy user, and you are not thy user”Society for Technical Communication

People aren’t going to your website to be entertained

People are task 

focussed

Tip #2 

Think about how they find information on your site

4 types of information seeking behaviour*

Known item

Exploratory

Don’t know what you need to know

Re‐finding

* Refer to Donna (Maurer) Spencer’s excellent article: http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/four_modes_of_seeking_information_and_how_to_design_for_them

Tip #3 

Get users involved early in the design process

Tip #4 

Usability testing doesn’t have to be expensive(or usability testing on a shoestring)

Guerrilla usability testingNeed a room

Mock‐ups of the design 

Users

Set some realistic tasks

Observe

Analyse

Tip #5 

Content is key!

“5% of your website delivers 25% of 

value”Gerry McGovern

Giraffe ‐ Kruger National Park by Yogi from http://www.flickr.com/photos/yogi/410605111/Available under a Creative Commons Attribution‐Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Tip #6 

Consider how offline communications 

complement the online world

Example Case Study from UseIt.com

Tip #7 

Always let your user know where they are and what to expect

This way

Tip #8

Keep it simple

Tip #9

Don’t skip the research

Tip #10

Integrated approach to accessibility and usability right from the start

Questions?

Need more info?Adrian Newton – General ManagerEmail:  adriann@stamfordinteractive.com.auPhone:    02 8021 8699Mobile:   0413 875 325

Ruth Ellison – Senior ConsultantEmail: ruthe@stamfordinteractive.com.auPhone: 02 6280 7834Mobile:  0423 763 314Twitter: @ruthellison

Find us at www.stamfordinteractive.com.au