Organizational Support for Software Design by Laura De Young

1. Organizational Support for Software Design by Laura De Young Chapter 13 in Bringing Design to Software by Terry Winograd presented by Catherine Schell

2. About Laura De Young • Cofounder of Windrose Consulting in Palo Alto, CA • Has observed and advised software companies on their development processes • Conducts workshops on creativity in software design

3. Clarity of Goals • Two reasons why it is so difficult to set and maintain effective goals: • The goal must be shared by everyone. • It must have limited ambiguity. • Goals change. • They can continue to be shared if changes are stated and addressed realistically.

4. Clarity of Goals – An Example • Manusoft • Produced software for manufacturing. • Had an outdated financial product. • Was losing market share to a competitor that had good inventory-control and financial products. • Hired Jane to produce a new financial product. • Jane • Wanted to produce the biggest and best financial product imaginable. • Used lots of resources and time to produce a prototype that failed.

5. Clarity of Goals – What Went Wrong? • Project goals were ambiguous. • Manusoft wanted a financial product that would only be good enough to support sales of their manufacturing software. • Jane wanted a “striking new product.” • No concrete representation of the product concept to demonstrate the disparity in their understanding of the goals.

6. Clarity of Goals – Another Example • FinanceCo • Producer of banking software. • Team of software designers were to produce proof-of-concept prototype for a loan-processing application. • At one status meeting, the team told the manager they could produce 28 screens. • At the next meeting, the team told the manager they could produce 20 screens. • The manager considered this a failure.

7. Clarity of Goals – What Went Wrong? • The manager lost sight of the original goal. • Original goal was to produce an impressive prototype that communicated the design concept. • Goal transmuted to “produce 28 screens.” • Producing only 20 screens was seen as a failure.

8. Clarity of Goals – Lessons Learned • Communicate! State and restate project goals. • Use prototypes. • If a design changes… • …ask if the modification aligns with the goal. • …ask if the goal or the design decision should be changed.

9. Customer Focus • We often hear how important it is to focus on the customer. • Focusing on the customer requires work. • In the author’s consulting work, she’s found that people who do software design are reluctant to talk to the customers.

10. Customer Focus – An Example • DataSoft • Produces database applications for the insurance industry. • Initial goal was to “develop a rich and consistent image through the visual appeal” of the software. • This couldn’t be done with a 16-color VGA display. The company didn’t know if customers were willing to use 256-color display. • Company revised the goal, then reversed this decision and required that users use a 256-color display. • They never asked their customers what they wanted.

11. Customer Focus – Lesson Learned • DataSoft never knew if… • … customers were willing (or not) to use more expensive displays. • … customers wanted “thousands of colors and full-motion video” for more effective training and communication. • Author felt that DataSoft missed a good opportunity to strengthen their relationships with their customers.

12. Customer Focus in Action • Intuit, which makes Quicken, focuses on the customer. • Employees are encouraged to call 10 customer contacts when there is a question about what customers want. • The company takes steps to reduce the risk of divulging sensitive information.

13. Support for Customer Focus • “Engineers and designers are not naturally inclined to seek interaction with customers, and they need to be repeatedly encouraged to do so.” • “There is a natural tendency for a company to lose customer focus as it grows.”

14. Support for Customer Focus – The Good • Intuit’s “Follow-Me-Home” program • Staff went to local stores, asked to observe people buying Quicken for permission to observe them as they learned to use the software. • Intuit’s market research • When they learned Quicken, developed for personal accounting, was being used for small businesses, they developed QuickBooks.

15. Support for Customer Focus – The Bad • Author’s client asked her to evaluate UI for a business application. • Author felt her input was not taken seriously. • Designers didn’t record usability tests. • Designers didn’t ask follow-up questions. • Designers became defensive about their design.

16. Support for Customer Focus – Lessons Learned • There are many ways for companies to get customer feedback. • It is pointless to conduct usability tests merely because it is “fashionable.” • If designers are not willing to listen to their customers and make necessary changes, there is no point in asking them what they want.

17. Designer Empowerment • People who make design decisions often do not have necessary tools and materials to work effectively. • DinoCom manager would not supply twenty-four designers with books. • Another company required designers to get approval from two levels of management for design changes. • Intuit encourages brainstorming, and encourages designers to pursue most promising ideas. • Customers are the judge of how successful a design is. • Employees (including salespeople) share profits.

18. Creativity and Engagement • Designers work best and are more creative when their employers value them. • Jim, a software designer, was once dedicated to his job, but after several years “lived for weekends.” • Previously worked on a team that developed a successful product. • Two subsequent products he worked on were eventually cut. • His work “was not recognized as useful or important.”

19. Creativity and Engagement – Lessons Learned • Designers’ work and creativity must be acknowledged. • Designers must be supported in taking risks if their creativity is to thrive. • Designers need to know they are making a difference.

20. Profile: Quicken • Founding product of Intuit, started in 1984. • First released in 1986, rapidly became market leader in software for personal finance. • Intuit’s founder, Scott Cook, found that using competitors’ software took users longer than completing tasks by hand. • He recognized that a successful program would have to be easy to use.

21. Profile: Quicken cont’d • Development of Quicken was customer-centered. • Intuit engaged potential users during design and development. • Intuit added features to the software that sped up the process of writing checks. • Scott Cook made sure Quicken remained competitive.