The Business, the Technology and that Pesky End-User: Putting People Back Into the Software Development Process 
Harold Hambrose
CEO and Founder
Electronic Ink

Introduction:

From OS/2 to Web 2.0, not a whole lot has changed regarding software design. The humans who use the tools still are being all but ignored. And systems are demonstrating an epidemic of poor performance as people struggle with technology. And when they struggle, that technology is not delivering on its promise to make life easier. Every second of struggle costs time, efficiency, productivity, money – even (in hospitals and similar environments) lives.

Harold Hambrose has spent 18 years begging, bribing and ultimately demanding that effective user input be injected into the software development process. Today, his company Electronic Ink is recognized as a leading innovator in augmenting software development efforts with design methodologies and expertise. Hambrose has leveraged user-centered design to enable process improvement at organizations of every size and scope. In this presentation, he will reveal specific challenges faced by his clients, share user-centered design strategies and tactics for overcoming them, and demonstrate the immediate and exponential returns on investment that were earned as a direct result of returning the focus to understanding the capabilities – and limitations – of humans.

The ICSPI states that process improvement is about “whatever can give high return in profitability and customer satisfaction with the resources your organization can afford.” User-centered design is a practice that every organization – from non-profits to multinational corporations – can easily and profitably employ.

Participants will learn:

• Avoid common misconceptions in the software development process
• How to evaluate your system and recognize the signs that users are being underserved or overlooked in the development process
• How to apply user-centered design in the development process at your organization
• Differentiating between what users want and what they need
• Building consensus within your organization to achieve shared appreciation for the value of user-centered design
• How to measure impact

Outline:

• Consider the Human History of Complex Systems
  • The Automobile, the skyscraper, the iPod… engineering marvels, AND likable, even lovable human-centered artifacts.
  • Should we compare software – and specifically business systems – to these things?
  • Understanding how these objects take form provides valuable insight into the reasons for a successful production/development outcome in the end product.
  • Compare and contrast with software development methodologies (Waterfall, Rapid/Agile).
    • What's wrong?
      • This is what is wrong:
        • Who's doing this work
        • What they are doing
        • How they are doing it
        • What they are producing
• The Mistakes and Misconceptions of Usability and User-Centered Design in Software Development
  • “I know the business, so I know the user community”
    • (you may not know neither of these enough)
  • “We surveyed the users and they told us what they want.”
    • (don't mistake wants for needs .)
  • “I have been designing systems for three decades – I am a designer.”
    • (sorry, a system architect or designer of business logic, or even a requirements analysts is no match for a trained and talented product designer)
  • “We'll get the system running, then we'll pretty up the user interface and fix the usability problems.”
    • (great idea – build the house, then find out how the family needs to live in it… that stove in the bedroom, it may have to be put somewhere else).
• Looking Forward
  • Purchasers, business stakeholders, even end users are getting wise to unusable software.
  • Training and Change Management budgets must be evaluated for their benefit to effective business execution – rather than money wasted attempting to teach people countless idiosyncrasies of poorly designed systems.
  • Integrators and product vendors will be required to demonstrate usability and effective user adoption of the product's design – not simply its inventory of features and functions.
  • How to evaluate a system and inject user-centered design
  • How to deliver better user experiences which, ultimately, right the course of software design by returning the focus to the people who use it.

Biography:

Harold Hambrose established Electronic Ink in 1990, in order to introduce Design's concern for the human experience with form to the technology industry.

As a Graphic Design major at Carnegie Mellon University , Harold recognized that a burgeoning software industry was focused more on features and functions than on how usable these products were in the hands of human beings. Harold's influence in his industry has pushed technology and technologists to be more conscious of the human experience with software products.

Harold is a pioneer in user-centered system development. He contributed to the design of the first public access banking machine for Citibank Corporation, the first computerized patient record for First Data Corporation's Health Systems Group and the user interface for IBM's OS/2. For 17 years, his unique approach to the design and build of digital products, and an unwavering concern for the user of computer-driven products and services, has attracted leaders in the health care industry to award landmark projects to Electronic Ink. The company's client roster includes AstraZeneca International, British Petroleum, Merrill Lynch, the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters, and Wyeth, to name a few.

Harold lectures extensively in the U.S. and Europe on the importance of design and consideration for the end-user in the creation of business systems, and has spoken at conferences including the Internet World Conference Usability Workshop, London, England; the International Conference on Computer Human Interaction (ACM-CHI); IBM Interact; Carnegie Mellon's Emergence 07; the Designing Digital Communities Workshop, a presentation of Temple University's Fox School of Business and the Philadelphia Wireless Project; and the Future of Enterprise Systems, part of the 2008 Executive Breakfast Series at Temple University.