Winning With Rapid Development: Incorporating Customer Needs into Fast-Paced Web Design

Deborah Hinderer Sova, Nielsen Norman Group
Cory Knobel, Optavia Network

7:00pm
Wednesday, October 9, 2002
411 West Hall (Ehrlicher Room) directions...

This presentation describes a case study of a challenging but successful rapid- development web project, which incorporated customer-centered design using multiple methodologies. Within ten weeks, we conducted field studies and focus groups, produced paper prototypes of three navigational concepts, conducted a usability test using paper prototypes, and performed heuristic evaluation on the resulting design. Keys to our success included: assembling a top-notch team, running many project phases concurrently, and good, ongoing team-client and intra-team communication.

About the Speakers

Deborah Hinderer Sova has worked in the computer industry for over 20 years, having conducted dozens of usability evaluations using a wide variety of methodologies. She is Presentations Co-Chair for UPA 2003, and she has presented papers on usability-related topics at the national conferences of UPA, STC, ErgoCon, and IPCC. Deborah currently is a consultant with Nielsen Norman Group, and she is a member of UPA, STC, and MilwauCHI, the local CHI chapter of Milwaukee, WI. Deborah was a resident of Ann Arbor for 25 years.

Cory Knobel’s multi-disciplinary background includes instructional design, group facilitation and training, statistical analysis, project management, and technical communication. He teaches courses on user interface design and accessible web technology. His research interests include web navigation, dimensions of user context, and data modeling. Cory is a member of UPA, STC, ACM, and MilwauCHI. Cory currently resides in Ann Arbor.