Having recently finished the taught part of a Masters degree in Human Computer Interaction at UCLIC, I am finally finding the time to formally pass on some of my knowledge and skills to colleagues at work.

Since I started in my current role in local government in 2006 we have used some user centred design (UCD) methods with varying degrees of success. But we we are now aiming to use a UCD approach for all web development projects. This is a significant step forward and represents a real commitment within the team to improving customer experience on our web channels. We are about to start a series of projects to improve the customer experience on our corporate website (long overdue!) so I am really pleased to be starting out on the right foot.

So what do I mean by a user centred design approach? I like the UPA definition:

User-centered design (UCD) is an approach to design that grounds the process in information about the people who will use the product. UCD processes focus on users through the planning, design and development of a product.

But in essence, in my interpretation, it is about the process of designing technology that is useful, easy to use and pleasant to use.

After three years of studying human computer interaction it was still pretty daunting to figure out where to start putting all the theory into practise and transfer a bit of know how to colleagues. So I began with an overview presentation which introduced:

• usability and user centred design definitions (so we’re all on the same page)
• a standard UCD process
• a more accessible UCD process that could fit with our current processes
• an overview of popular UCD tools and techniques (e.g. card sorting, user testing and prototyping)
• how UCD fits with other web development methodologies.

Despite being a Friday afternoon the session did generate some lively debate and raised some interesting questions. I have yet to figure out all the answers!

1. If we gather data via interviews, surveys, user testing etc. what type (and level) of analysis should we do? Having been taught how to do rigorous academic research I am very aware we would struggle to take this approach in practise, given that timescales and budgets are often pressured. We also discussed how we could overlay data we gather onto the Experian data from the ESD Toolkit, or other data we hold about our customers. Which got me thinking that there really should be a measurement standard for usability testing in local government.

2. How should we go about recruiting a representative sample that matches our target audience? What will be involved in setting up and maintaining a participant list? I am expecting we will need to use a combination of remote and face-to-face user testing, given that the region is geographically quite large.

3. If we develop a set of core personas to inform the design customer experiences via the web and other channels, will we still need to develop additional personas, for projects that aim to target a specific audience or a hard to reach group?

4. How can we best analyse user behaviour using Google Analytics, our SOCITM Insight survey and customer feedback? If we set up goals in Google Analytics we need to be sure we’ve defined the right user journey e.g. each step, or page, to measure.

5. What techniques should we use, and when? Would having a set of cards like the UX trading cards or the IDEO method cards be useful to project teams to help communicate the methods we are using to services? How do we define what methods are suitable for us to use with limited budget and resource? Perhaps we could give our cards a score for cost/effort, similar to the social media game cards.

6. How should we use UCD methods alongside other methods currently being promoted for use by local government for service transformation, such as circle of needs, customer insight and customer journey mapping? There is clearly lots of crossover.

7. How will UCD methods fit within the Agile development methodology we aim to use on our web development projects? How much design do we need to do up front before starting development? And how do we fit in evaluation and design activities once we get into time-boxed Agile iterations that only last 1-2 weeks?

Lots of interesting food for thought. I like a good challenge. For the next in-house sessions I am going to be concentrating on more specific tools and techniques. So more on that later.

But for now, as a colleague summarised: “I guess we just need to get on and do it!”. I couldn’t agree more.

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