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Page 1 of 2 Many are the products that have come a cropper simply because they were too complex for its users. We take a closer look at one of the factors that determines a product's success in the market'its usability.
Have you ever used a tech product and found it hard to figure out how it works? You try various buttons for a while, not desiring to ruin your first-time experience by resorting to a boring manual. Eventually, shaking your head, you sigh in exasperation and say, "If only they had asked me!" This, essentially, is the crux of the concept of usability. One of the major reasons for the failure of a product or software solution is its rejection by the intended user base. Users shy away from products that are too complicated to use, or that repeatedly require them to resort to manuals, help menus and customer support helplines. Going by the same definition, users give a thumbs-up to products that are fun, easy-to-use, and enable them to feel immersed in the experience of using the product. The iPod is a perfect example of a product with mass appeal. Technology orientation gives way to user orientation
This positive user perception of a product is termed usability, a notion that is rapidly gaining ground as markets become saturated with tech solutions. In technical parlance, especially in the specialist field of human-computer interaction, this desirability or simplicity of a product or software solution is its usability. Like all other aspects of innovation, usability may also be assessed. In fact, this process answers the question'will this innovation work or not, not insofar as its functionality is concerned but in terms of its other design components. The ROI of usability is yet another yardstick that is hard to come by, but increasingly spoken of. Besides resulting in a waste of funds sunk into R&D, a product's negative usability translates into a waste of time spent in figuring it out, or correcting errors, a feeling of being a failure, et al. Hence, the economic impact of usability involves a wide study of various direct and indirect factors. Usability thus implies that there is more to technological research and development than the mere creation of a product that works, or fulfills its purpose. A product must be seen to function ideally, in the eyes of those it is intended to be used by. Likewise, software that drives a solution or a website must be aimed to enhance users' experience. What does the user think? The beauty of usability is that it is a measure that lies in the user's hands, and is not determined by the head of an R&D unit. As the concept of usability catches on, R&D teams are increasingly realising that innovation is a two-pronged process'on the one hand, a team innovates, on the other, it must carry along those it innovates for. It would seem obvious that an innovator thinks of the user during the process of development, but this is not always the case. R&D teams often remain closeted in their labs, unaware of user preferences. Now, there is no point in innovating without user feedback. But while this sounds practical from the perspective of ending up with a usable product, how easy is it to actually reach out to users during the process of developing a new product, and incorporating their inputs? The concept of usability has given rise to a new breed of user-experience professionals. R. Muthukumar, a user experience architect in the xDesign team of Sun Microsystems explains, "User experience professionals are involved in every stage of the product development lifecycle, as user and product requirements must be based on strong qualitative and quantitative research. Further, the adoption of participatory and predictive design methodologies encourages collaboration between the management, marketing, engineering teams and users." A new approach to R&D Essentially, as Muthukumar highlights, "A design ensuring a positive user experience needs to be 'built-in' and not 'tested-in.' Prototypes need to be iterated, validated and tested with potential users throughout the lifecycle. Design decisions must be centred around user needs, goals, tasks and the context of use." Hence, the need for user experience professionals, who steer an R&D team to adopt a user-centred design paradigm. When participatory design approaches are implemented, it is these experts who ensure that accurate user profiles are constructed, and who subsequently interact with users and use their feedback to recognise design flaws needing rectification. As a product's usability is initially registered in a user's mind, the psychological skills usability professionals bring to the table are invaluable. They are able to gauge a user's perception of a product'and answer the question 'does it appeal or not?' Focus on the user Usability is thus what brings the focus of a design team back to users'their comforts, needs, experience, learning capacity and satisfaction. For instance, the aspect of usability will determine whether the intended user has sufficient exposure to technology to easily pick up the usage commands of a tech product. If the users encounter an error, how easily can they work around it? If a product is aimed at disabled persons, would they really find it easy to use? In fact, as we are veritably flooded with technological products, it is the usability of a product that stands out as a selling point. Muthukumar cites the example of booking a return ticket online at www.irctc.co.in as a product (application) that does not meet its intended goals. These goals he lists as helping passengers to book/cancel tickets anywhere, online; increasing the number of transactions in order to decrease the cost of operating 'brick and mortar' establishments; increasing repeat online purchases; providing easy access to information on train schedules, etc; and providing a good seamless user experience. He points out that the site fails because its design, task flow and performance are very poor and not centred around user needs. For instance, if a user wants to book a 'return ticket' from Bangalore to Chennai only if both the tickets are available (and not on a waiting list), there is no provision to easily do so. One has to first book the onward journey and then the return journey or vice versa. This kind of task flow does not reflect a user's natural expectation from this application. It doubles the task completion time and doesn't reflect a user's mental model. As a result, users have no choice but to spend long hours to perform a simple task like booking/cancelling a ticket. The number of transactions that could happen online is restricted by poor usability and site performance.
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