USABILIDAD Y DESARROLLO CENTRADO EN EL USUARIO

ValueCreation abre una línea de negocio específica de usabilidad para empresas tecnológicas

¿Por qué no involucrar a los clientes -internos o externos en el diseño de los procesos que les afectan? ¿En cuánto mejoraría la calidad de las viviendas si en el diseño participasen sus futuros residentes? El diseño centrado en usuarios proporciona vías interesantes para incrementar en mucho la satisfacción de los clientes, así como reducir costes y errores.

Podemos empezar definiendo la Usabilidad como la medida en la que algo (un producto, un servicio, un objeto, una casa, una cuchara, una cafetera, …) puede ser usado por los usuarios para lograr los objetivos para los que se crearon con efectividad, eficiencia y satisfacción, en un contexto específico claro. Así es como, más o menos, lo define el ISO (La Organización Internacional de Estandarización).

A estas tres características se les puede unir dos más definidas por Whitney Quesenbery, que son tolerancia al error (cómo está diseñado para prevenir errores) y fácil de aprender o de entender.

Cuando haces esto con los usuarios de ese algo puedes llegar a obtener la mejor experiencia de usuario.

De aquí nace una forma de trabajar con los usuarios que se llama Diseño Centrado en el Usuario, de tal forma que ese algo reúna los requisitos de los usuarios y además sea eficiente, efectivo, genere satisfacción con su compra o su uso, que prevenga errores y que sea fácil de entender y de aprender.

El diseño centrado en el usuario es también un estándar descrito por la ISO, y se define como un proceso iterativo que se repite hasta que se cumplen los objetivos de Usabilidad.

¿Qué se consigue con la Usabilidad y el Desarrollo Centrado en el Usuario? Para el usuario ya lo hemos mencionado arriba. Pero qué consigue la empresa que diseña, desarrolla y vende una cuchara, un edificio, una oficina, un teléfono móvil, una página Web, una cafetera, la cabina de un avión, el habitáculo de un coche o incluso la organización interna de una compañía.

Los desarrollos centrados en usuario incrementan la productividad, las ventas y los beneficios, reduce los costes por aprendizaje, soporte y mantenimiento, reduce los tiempos de desarrollo y las barreras de entrada al mercado, incrementan la satisfacción del usuario y mejoran la imagen de marca.

Estos modelos tienen en cuenta el efecto de ciertos atributos de los objetos en la impresión que tenemos de ellos. Esto por supuesto tiene implicaciones en la imagen de marca y en los resultados.

La Usabilidad y el Diseño Centrado en el Usuario han sido ampliamente usada en el desarrollo de páginas Web.

La innovación aquí radica en usar estas herramientas (y otras) en sectores en los que parece impensable, como en arquitectura o en la organización de una empresa.

Por ejemplo, ¿la organización de una empresa y sus procesos no es algo que ha de diseñarse para que sea eficiente, efectiva, que genere satisfacción a sus usuarios (los propios trabajadores, independientemente de su rango), que esté libre de errores y que sea sencilla de entender y seguir?

Cuando construimos un edificio o una oficina, ¿no ha de ser algo eficiente, efectivo, que genere satisfacción a sus usuarios, libre de errores y que sea fácil de usar y circular? Y que, además, cumpla los requisitos de los usuarios, la propiedad, la normativa vigente, etc.

Un estudio de arquitectura puede llegar a cobrar un 4% del presupuesto de una obra (proyecto básico, proyecto de ejecución, dirección facultativa). Un proceso basado en Diseño Centrado en el Usuario reduce notablemente la insatisfacción del cliente si durante el desarrollo, éste se da cuenta de que el producto no era el deseado. Esto puede llegar a paralizar una obra con los consecuentes costes que esto conlleva, que son muy altos.

Un desarrollo bajo el paraguas de la Usabilidad y el Diseño Centrado en el Usuario evita esto y además es compatible con sistemas de Calidad como la ISO 9001.

Por esto es tan importante contar con los usuarios en todos los procesos de la cadena de valor de un producto un servicio o una cosa. Pero para hacerlo es importante seguir unas pautas y ciertas reglas.

http://daleske.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/usabilidad-y-diseno-centrado-en-el-usuario/

VIRTUAL REALITY (CHAPTER ONE)

I have been always delighted by the virtual reality (VR) and its possibilities. It is not fiction; it is real.

I have seen application in surgery, building, tourism and entertainment. It makes me think why is not used more often. And thinking about that, I started to seek about some key issues to understand the virtual Reality (VR) and the User experience (UX).

Let’s start from the beginning: What is VR?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Virtual Reality is defined as the computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with by using special electronic equipment.

The Vade-mecum of EU Publications office (read on 2010) defines VR as simulations in which the user is immersed within a computer-generated environment. VR usually involves real time 3D animation, position tracking and stereo audio and video techniques (understanding 3D as graphics are represented in three dimensions: width, depth, and height. This is, however, a distortion of the truth as 3D computer graphics are really a two-dimensional representation of a virtual three-dimensional world).

According to Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., Ivan Stherland wrote in 1965 that we shouldn’t think of VR as a screen, but a window to look through into a virtual world, where the image has to be improved keeping the world model in real time. Virtual world means also that sounds real and feels real (1999).

There are several visualization systems, where projection devices and screens take part. Every one is appropriated for a particular use. In all of them the stereoscopic projection capacity is present. This capacity is in fact the one providing the immersive experience, providing the 3D perception of objects and environments, the volumes of them, and then the user is involved inside the environment, feeling he as part of the model simulated (T-Systems. 2009).

The next important aspect to take into account is the election of the screen. The considerations are the size, of course (a large angle of vision), but also material and quality of the screen. There are some other factors as the emitted light by projectors (so the screen has to be respectful with such a light distribution and lighting). It must get the maximum independency of the user position (T-Systems. 2009).

RAVE’s Manifesto of 2009 (RAVE is the acronym of Real Action, Virtual Environments) explain its interests in how and why people reacts as they do in a virtual world. It is a way to help ICT engineer to do it better.

RAVE is an initiative belonging to PEACH, Presence Research in Action. PEACH was an action funded by the European Commission and coordinated by Starlab under the Future Emerging Technologies (FET) - Information Society Technology (IST) program.

PRESENCE is a field studying the science, technology and social impact of digitally mediated interaction, interested in real feeling experiences and the impact of technology on social dynamics.

According to G. Rivas and all, in their conclusions, the VR can be described as a communication tool, an interface itself when talking about a single user and a medium when involving more users. It can be seen as an evolution of the current communication interfaces. They say that there are two main characteristics of this experience. The first of a satisfying virtual environment is the disappearance of mediation; the VR world and the physical world disappear from the user’s awareness. The second is the sense of community developed by interaction where it is possible to share interests, becoming a carrier for emotional support (2001).

There is another concept known as mixed reality, where objects of the real world and virtuality are mixed (Regenbrecht and Wagner, 2001).

In this sense it is possible to get a cognitive effect working with the textures (Hilsenrat and Reiner, 2009).

The level of immersive or how the boundary between the real world and the virtual world disappears from the user’s perspective, defines what is immersive virtual reality and non-immersive virtual reality. However, this border is grey and then appears some other category like augmented reality.

Thus, it is possible to increase the effect of the VR experience by introducing some objects of the real world. In fact, what we are doing is mixing the sense in a virtual environment, involving other sense like touch or sound. And there is no limit to involve the other sense like taste and smell.

So, involving as many sense as possible we can get a better immersion into the virtual reality.

When I was in Barcelona in 2009 for the Rave’09 I went to visit the installations of virtual reality that Barcelona University and T-System run. They have got a power wall and a cave of four sides. In the cave, they ran an application consisting on a platform that ascends lot of meters up. When the platform stopped you could go walking along the platform to a place without a fence. From there you could see the fall by moving ahead. Then giving just a step ahead you fell all those meters down against the floor. I felt the sensation of the fall, in legs and ears. And after the fall against the floor a feeling of legs shaking lasts for while.

In the Rave’09 (the 4^th of March of 2009) one of the speakers (unfortunately I don’t remember who) experienced something similar in their VR laboratory, in a cave, but they introduced in the environment just a single step so that the user can feel the touch (under their food) of the step before “jumping”.

It was so curious that the same human reaction against such a kind of “crazy” jump in the real world is experienced in the virtual environment, I mean, even knowing that it was a virtual scenario, my mind was against giving that step making me “fall and die”.

Mel Slater, in his blog of November 2007 asked himself why do people smile at an avatar when the avatar is smiling at them or why do they become anxious when standing in front of a deep virtual hole when they know that there is no hole in the ground? People tend to act realistically in response to virtually generated sensory data. It is not all a question of “being there” since you are in a physical reality. The real actions in virtual environments have ramifications across many dimensions: Neuroscience and Psychology, Neuroscience of the body, Computer science and Engineering, Applications, Philosophy, Entertainment, …

So we have moved from a mere virtual reality, a mere computer simulation, to the “presence”, in words of Mel Salter, real actions in a virtual environment (2007).

NEXT CHAPTER: what about the User experince (UX)?

(Coming soon)

A Competitive Dialogue

Some days ago I was asked to participate in an interview for a thesis.

I really liked the subject and I decided to participate. The thesis is about a practical view or a guide of best practices on the use of public contracting by using the Competitive Dialogue formula.

At the end of 2008 I took part of a process of this sort for a building construction in Andalusia. At the beginning the process seems to be the right one as we needed to negotiate certain technical and economical issues of the project, and also because it was a good way to "learn" in the process and of course to get the best solution.

I, who was working in private companies all my working life and used to work on RFQ and RFT, etc, saw this process like the more close formula to the "private" ones.

So, a first conclusion at this point could be that it is a good process when the some technical aspects of the project are uncertain. Of course, economical reason is an issue, as it is a good way to balance both aspects and get the best solution.

At that moment, there were no experiences on using this formula on public contracts and the law itself was really ambiguous. So we had to learn everything on the spot.

This thesis is going to be something very useful and practical. I am really looking forward to seeing the result and the conclusions, for sure.

He told me that very probably they will arranged a workshop to introduce the thesis and its book, so It will be a good opportunity for all of us involved in a process like that, to share the experience, and who knows if laughing or crying.