Speaker - Bruce Barber, Bruce Barber Productions on Social Media Articles: - Recap of August Meeting: VIMM Expert Reviews - Tool Tips: ROI

1. CONNECTICUT CHAPTER OF USABILITY PROFESSIONALS
SEPTEMBER 14, 2009
www.ctupa.org
NEWSLETTER
Our September Meeting
The Impact of Social Media
How Business Strategies for Traditional Media Have Changed
Our next Chapter meeting will be held
Wednesday evening at 6:30, September 30th at
the Synapse Group, 225 High Ridge Road, Stamford,
CT.
The speaker, Bruce Barber will share his insights
about how social media has impacted traditional
broadcast media. Bruce Barber started his radio career on
the campus of Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
In 1985, Bruce was invited to help create a new show
for WPLR-FM in New Haven. “Smith and Barber” went
on to become the top-rated morning drive program in
Connecticut, generating millions of dollars in advertising
revenues and garnering an extensive list of awards and
accolades.
Since that time, Barber Productions has created
content for Connecticut Public Radio, The Connecticut
Speaker: Bruce Barber, Bruce Barber Productions Radio Network, and The Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament.
Bruce is currently the host and producer of “The
WNPR Health Forum” in partnership with the Yale
Cancer Center. He also blogs at “The Real Life Survival
Guide” (www.thereallifesurvivalguide.com), an online
collection of “Tips for Living”. Expect a lively
discussion!
Summer’s Over...
We have an exciting slate of chapter meetings We plan to be conducting meetings in several
planned to help ease you into the fall season. If you locations throughout Connecticut. If your company
have ideas or requests for meeting topics - please is interested in hosting - please let us know!
do not hesitate to forward to a chapter officer.
Michael Rawlins, President, CT UPA
http://www.ctupa.org
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2. CONNECTICUT CHAPTER OF USABILITY PROFESSIONALS
SEPTEMBER 14, 2009
September 30th Meeting location:
Synapse Group, 225 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT.
As is our custom, light refreshments will be available at 6:30, and
informal networking will ensue until the meeting commences at 7:00.
http://www.synapsegroupinc.com/
Recap: August Chapter Meeting collaboration among all of the involved parties.
VIMM’s ideology aims to reduce the visual
by Joe Rice, Open Solutions
clutter, intellectual complexity, memory load, and
Viva la VIMM! motor load in a presentation. The goal is to
present something to an audience (users,
The presentation by the CT UPA’s
stakeholders, et cetera) that is visually appealing,
president, Michael Rawlins, was both intriguing
simple, intuitive, and can be used efficiently.
and engaging. He did a great job of presenting
the topic and offered wonderful examples, which In the context of this presentation, the goal, in
helped the audience internalize what he was essence, is to make usability issues “usable” to
presenting. For this, we thank him! the stakeholder, i.e. communicate them in such a
way that the stakeholder will not only understand
There were three major topics covered in the
what usability issues exist, but comprehend the
presentation: an overview of the VIMM model,
risks and potential negative exposures that they
how VIMM’s principles apply to communicating
may present. However, this nourishes only part
with stakeholders, and the value of expert
of a stakeholder’s appetite; in order to completely
reviews.
satiate the stakeholder, one must also present
VIMM’s main covenant is organization; the goal quantifiable data that establishes the product’s
being to effectively communicate information in current state (i.e. a frame-of-reference) and can
a common language, yielding comprehension and show trends that chart progress. This fulfills the
(continued on page 3)
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3. CONNECTICUT CHAPTER OF USABILITY PROFESSIONALS
SEPTEMBER 14, 2009
requirement for how real return on investment
can be figured. These data can be gathered
through expert reviews, which if structured under
the VIMM paradigm, should allow for
expeditious data gathering, repeatable methods,
and peer collaboration.
All-in-all, an effective stakeholder presentation
should be comprised of scorecards, graphs,
matrices, risk assessments, and actions plans.
The plethora of information should provide a
stakeholder with everything needed to make a
well-informed decision, while not overwhelming
or boring them. Ultimately, the result will be a
better product.
Link to the slide deck:
http://www.slideshare.net/Rawlins/expert-reviews-
vimm-model
by Joe Rice, Open Solutions
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4. CONNECTICUT CHAPTER OF USABILITY PROFESSIONALS
SEPTEMBER 14, 2009
TOOL TIPS
DEMONSTRATING RATE OF
RETURN ON PROJECTS
Meeting Stakeholder Expectations
The down economy has
presented many challenges for UX
practitioners and practice group
leaders. Business stakeholders need
reassurance that the applications and
websites are going to be successful in
reducing business risk and failure.
Those practitioners who are able to
provide their stakeholders with
information about potential rate of
return (ROI) -- will gain lasting
business allies, and receive more
attention from stakeholders in the
development life-cycle.
Human Factors International’s
(HFI) ROI Calculators (free resource)
provide a good solution. These tools
allow UX practitioners and leaders
with numbers that illustrate how
usability (and improved design) can
help the business stakeholders
bottom-line. http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/roi.asp
These numbers are often times
the key data-points that drive
fundamentals of business value from
a business stakeholders perspective.
There are arguably many
dimensions of ROI that interest
stakeholders. Although stakeholders
trust our design and usability testing
abilities -- discussions about rate of
return truly resonate them because
you are speaking their language.
The HFI Calculators are very
easy to use -- providing the
practitioner with categories of ROI
and models of calculations. Broken
into categories for example:
“increasing a users productivity” and
(continued on page 5) http://www.humanfactors.com/training/roi_redu_reliance.htm
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5. CONNECTICUT CHAPTER OF USABILITY PROFESSIONALS
SEPTEMBER 14, 2009
“reducing the reliance of a help desk.”
These calculators also enable the practitioner to construct four Chapter Officers
scenarios -- which allows for conservative estimates and rate of return
illustrations. The more conservative the estimate -- the more credible
for your business stakeholder. Be prepared for them to ask you how
you are arrived at these numbers. Here is where it gets exciting! Show
them the numbers -- and help them understand what they are
visualizing in the Usability Findings reports (the users pain points).
The UX practitioners and leaders who adopt the practice of
sharing ROI with stakeholders will gain deeper business relationships
and trust from their stakeholders. At day’s end -- it has always been
about business. The goal is to get closer to the stakeholders who fund
our projects -- and help them understand how to avoid business risk Michael Rawlins ~ President
and potential failure.
by Michael Rawlins, President, CT UPA
Help your
stakeholders
understand how Herb Wexler ~ Vice-President
much it costs to
support the
application or
website via the
help desk.
Paul Linton ~ Treasurer
Provide your
stakeholders
with an easy to
understand ROI
calculation.
Aneta Hall ~ Secretary
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