Design & Development - Project Planning & Management: articles about planning, managing and evaluating an EPSS development project.Painless Software Management: An Interview with Joel Spolsky
WebWord: Companies add features because some customers want them. Not every customer wants every feature: most customers use 20% of the features. This leads many naive startups to think they can deliver a product with 20% of the features and still capture the market. Then they crash and burn when they discover that actually everybody is using a different 20% subset of the features of the market leader. (2001-08-19)Managing User Expectations
Systems development projects have a high failure rate. Often, the users of a system are dissatisfied with it because it does not meet their expectations. What is the cause and effect relationship between expectations and failure? No doubt, a poorly designed system will fail to meet expectations. But sometimes users have unrealistic expectations without regard for constraints of budget, time, manpower, etc., and the best system that developers could produce will go unused because it doesn’t meet these high expectations. In this latter case, the expectations were actually the cause of the failure, not the other way around. Perception can be more important than reality. Project managers have two things to manage: the development of the system and the perception of the system. For this paper, we are focusing on the latter aspect of project management: managing user expectations. (2001-08-19)Is Design Dead?
For many that come briefly into contact with Extreme Programming, it seems that XP calls for the death of software design. Not just is much design activity ridiculed as "Big Up Front Design", but such design techniques as the UML, flexible frameworks, and even patterns are de-emphasized or downright ignored. In fact XP involves a lot of design, but does it in a different way than established software processes. XP has rejuvenated the notion of evolutionary design with practices that allow evolution to become a viable design strategy. It also provides new challenges and skills as designers need to learn how to do a simple design, how to use refactoring to keep a design clean, and how to use patterns in an evolutionary style. (2001-08-19)Draft Your Dream Team
Destination CRM: Successful KM initiatives, experts say, focus first on people, business processes and company culture. Only later should the emphasis shift to the technology and tools that facilitate knowledge sharing. While specific organizational needs will vary, most teams should include individuals who can assess the company's knowledge imperatives in light of its business requirements. Members may need expertise in management, administration, human resources and business processes as well as in the supporting technologies. (2001-08-05)The Three Models Used in Designing for Ease of Use
Models facilitate understanding users, analyzing complex systems, and describing effective designs. The use of three models contributes to the design of easy-to-use computer systems: the user's conceptual model, the designer's model, and the programmer's model. Here we provide an understanding of the three models, including how they are used and the relationships between them. (2001-08-05)Information Architecture Skills and Roles
This graphic, created by Louis Rosenfeld, illustrates the skill set required to develop a web site or intranet. What is important here is not the name of the profession, but the skill set. (2001-08-05)Developing a knowledge-aware service and support portal is a team effort
destinationCRM.com, Gloria Gery: Too many organizations spend lots of time and money developing knowledge and support resources without getting the business and performance outcomes they need. There’s no mystery as to why: it results at least in part from the way organizations historically have approached knowledge organization and delivery. Support tools typically are developed by functional groups that operate in organizational silos--documentation, training, business management, information systems or support services and help desks. While each of the resulting knowledge resources may be well structured, none alone is sufficient to allow the company to realize the bottom-line value of knowledge synergies. That’s because each tool has a different goal and is designed, independent of any larger considerations, to achieve it. (2001-07-29)Critical thinking part 3: project management
uiweb.com: It’s true that design specifications are difficult to write, and that good ideas are fleeting and rare, but until the design is in it’s final form, it’s far from finished. Much can happen between the moment the designer finishes the expression of the idea, and when the development team has finished building it. (2001-07-15)The Secret to Software Success
Desperate to avoid the scapegoat's horns, some technology executives are finally beginning to take up arms against this sea of failure, redefining how software is built. They call it Agile Development, a disciplined, minimalist approach that's both elegant and arduous, and maybe IT's best hope to avoid "Yet Another Trip to Hell." Agile means what it sounds like: fast and efficient. Small and nimble. Less money, fewer features, shorter projects. (2001-07-08)Addressing Obstacles to User-Centered Design
Why do many organizations resist or use poor excuses for user-centered design methodologies (while sometimes claiming to be user-centered)? This page presents an overview of numerous answers to this question -- an overview which should help you to identify many of the kinds of obstacles to look for and to prepare for in the organization(s) of interest to you. This page also addresses some of what it takes to overcome or avoid organizational obstacles and solicits your views on these issues. (2001-07-01)Site Planning, the Red-Headed Stepchild of the Web
Digital Web Magazine: This article is meant to serve as a resource for considering the likely details, and building a site from them that is simple for the user. Many if not all of the questions asked below will look extremely familiar. However, you need to answer for yourself whether or not you sincerely ask these questions for every project—and apply the answers to your work. If you are not sincere about asking these questions and coming up with the answers, the visitors you're hoping for won't be sincere about using the site. (2001-07-01)Project risk factors checklist
TechRepublic.com: The first step to using the checklist involves identifying potential risks and assigning them probabilities of high, medium, or low. Next, the user reviews a list of high-risk factors and the problems that might result from their occurrence, as well as examples of strategies that can lessen the risk. The checklist also provides examples of medium- and low-level risks whose impact could be severe enough to affect the project. (2001-07-01)Using a Style Guide to Build Consensus
Usability Interface, Whitney Quesenbery: Style guides are often requested as a way to promote a common look and feel but do little to address the real problems in the way user interfaces are developed. In many situations, a collection of rules for visual design and the use of controls can seem like a band-aid; promoting surface-level consistency rather than solving the real usability problems. Even when a good style guide is created, it is often ignored after release. Worse, the style guide can become a weapon where a user-centered design process is needed. In either case, the style guide has failed to produce the desired effect. What’s missing is a consensus on the scope, ownership, or content. Solving this problem requires a change in the way style guides are developed, distributed, and used. Three suggestions for teams developing style guides are to start early, to make the emerging style guide widely available, and to plan for long-term maintenance of the guidelines. (2001-06-10)Guidance on Style Guides: Lessons Learned
Usability Interface, Chauncey E. Wilson: This article highlights some of the lessons that I’ve learned about the process of creating style guides and implementing processes for ensuring that a product is consistent in a number of dimensions. I discuss the purposes and benefits of a style guide, a process for creating a style guide, the many types of consistency, reasons why style guides fail, methods for ensuring consistency, and some references that discuss these issues in more detail. (2001-06-10)Critical thinking in web/interface design part 2: idea generation
Scott Berkun, uiweb.com: Good ideas are hard to find. Project schedules, plans and budgets are important, but without quality ideas, great design is impossible. Finding people that can create and cultivate good ideas is always difficult, and often beyond our control. However, everyone can develop their own creative thinking skills, and can provide an environment that supports creativity. The best teams know how to balance quality engineering practices with a creative and supportive work environment. This essay on idea generation describes how this can be done, and offers advice on defining and managing the creative process. (2001-05-13)Web Site Production Management Techniques
Macromedia: While there is no perfect way to manage Web production, this guide to techniques for efficiently and consistently delivering excellent user experiences was derived from extensive research into the processes used by seasoned Web professionals. (2001-05-13)Style Guidance
Webtechniques.com: Looking back on the whole process one year later, we all agree that developing our site's style manual was the key to our successful redesign. Without such a document, we would have had many more problems, and no record of how we solved them. This document gave our authors a central reference for the issues that our site design raised. This page contains a link to the style guide discussed discussed in the article. (2001-04-15)Critical Thinking in Web and Interface Design
Scott Berkun, Microsoft: The first step towards critical thinking is to take an objective view on the nature of the problem space. As a developer or designer, you are incredibly biased about the value of what you're doing. You're on the inside, looking out, and cannot possibly see your creations the way outsiders will. To get your bearings, you need to triangulate information from multiple sources. The viewpoint of a developer, manager, single important customer is of little value in isolation. Get the bird's-eye view and as many alternative views as you can find. (2001-04-08)Low-Technology Prototyping Techniques
The fundamental concept underlying these collaborative, low- technology approaches to design is that no one person can embody all the knowledge required to design a successful product. Through reciprocal education, reciprocal preparation, and reciprocal validation, each participant contributes knowledge and in turn is shaped by the contributions of others. Concrete visualization reduces ambiguity and also ensures that the design proceeds to specifics, rather than becoming mired in abstractions. (2001-03-11)DESIRE Information Gateways Handbook
"This handbook is designed to support libraries and other organisations interested in setting up large-scale information gateways on the Internet. It offers a step by step guide and points to tools, examples and documentation, which can support the process. The handbook is divided into three sections to reflect the managerial, information and technical issues that building a gateway raises." (2001-02-04)Two Tracks to a UCD Solution
"One commonly held objection to developing a superior user experience, is that it takes too long. The argument goes that, if you wait to get it right then you'll be late to market and the opportunity will be lost. In this short white paper, we present an approach which allows you to do both in a controlled and reasoned fashion - move quickly to respond to market demands, whilst developing a superior user experience." (2001-01-07)Build e-business apps faster
InfoWorld.com: According to this article: "Web application development projects should be characterized by small teams, flexible requirements, and iterative development, which involves adding application functionality, getting user feedback, and refining requirements through a series of shorter delivery cycles." The article describes a development process that:
Breaks large development projects into smaller sets of application functionality that can be worked on simultaneously.
Keeps development teams small for easier management and communication. Consider pair programming, which can result in better software and faster development.
- Takes an iterative, evolutionary approach to prototyping. Build in functionality gradually using a series of short delivery cycles. Using time boxes aids iterative development by making deadlines rigid and deliverables flexible.
- Tests program code as early and as often as possible. (2001-01-01)
Elephants in the Living Room
According to this article by Bruce Tognazzini "Four of your fellow development team members, all trying to do their specific jobs to the best of their abilities, have the power to sink your best effort at interaction design. As an interaction designer, it is your job to see they don't do so." (2000-09-30)Writing Good Work Objectives
This article elaborates upon the qualities of good work objectives and the process of writing them. It is concerned with how objectives are derived (i.e., their content) and how they are specified (i.e., their form). This article was written for people who are writing work objectives for the first time and for those who, although they might have done so before, find the task a difficult one. (2000-03-26)Turning Chaos into Order: Managing Web Projects
"In this month's column, I propose a method that combines the best production techniques from the world of media production with those found in the software development environment. This approach provides practices that -- should you welcome them into your nest -- might help you be less nagged, squawked at, and otherwise nitpicked for past chaotic practices." (2000-01-30)Evaluating a Performance Support Environment for Knowledge Workers This online article by Beverly E. Thomas, John P. Baron, and Wayne J. Schmidt. identifies some methods for evaluating the feasibility of implementing a performance support system. It describes five evaluation techniques, including some techniques for calculating the potential return on investment (ROI).
A Basic Rubric for Evaluation of Performance Support Systems T
his online article by Robert J. Cantor contains a suggested scoring system for evaluating an EPSS.Multimedia Development Tools
This website contains a comprehensive summary of the management methodologies, procedural checklists and evaluation tools that can be used to plan, manage and evaluate a multimedia, CBI or EPSS development project.Project Management Links
This page contains an larger number of links to project management information for software development. (1999-06-01)
