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| A new offering - UI Review |
Watching or listening to your users is the first step
in puting the 'user' into your user interface. How your users experience your software?
Do you care? If you want to find out, talk with me. In as little as a few days, we
can provide significant information about how your users intereact with your software,
where they find most value, where they are stuck or confused, and where the tools you
provide don't fully satisfy their needs or their desires for power and ease of use.
Few developers spend enough time watching users working with their product. I function
as a kind of cyber-age anthropologist -- observing business cultures to see what tasks are
being done, what tools are used and in what way, and -- perhaps most important -- where
users encounter stress, frustration, boredom, fear, or angst. My findings will suggest a
strategy for revision or re-design, or, in some cases, a total blueprint for a new user
experience. |
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| Read my blog |
My work with usablity starts with
listening -- and my focus on this critical activity has led me into "coaching"
(which I prefer to call "clarifying", because I don't direct clients), into
general management consulting, and much more. I write about listening and
coaching, about usability and design, about photography and dance, about art and
spirituality, about creativity and business, and about much more, in my blog
www.InsightAndClarity.com.
Please check it out. |
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| Listening to users .
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. . . because they have a special
knowledge, and an intimate familiarity with data and process. We ignore
them at our peril. Listening is an attentive and active process that
engages everybody. I enjoy it. |
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| Designing systems that
work |
Design is not cleaning up the mess,
or adding ornamentation at the end. It’s a process of thinking, organizing,
trying, testing, reworking, creating anew, refining, honing, and more.
Successful systems work because they are well conceived, and responsive
to user needs, styles, wishes, and habits. They continue to work
because they are well structured, and can be easily maintained and enhanced.
Designing a user interface involves
creating a process by which users interact with many elements of their
work world. This is much more than just a pretty set of screens.
All my background in psychology, business consulting, graphic design and
layout, systems work, and Progress programming come into play for this
task. |
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A value proposition:
I can
help you . . . |
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Identify and clarify the requirements
for an information system.
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Design a database model that users
understand, and that the technical staff appreciate.
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Work with users to develop a look and
feel for the application, and a more detailed interface design.
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Test that interface by having real
users perform realistic tasks in simulation mode.
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Create a system design that is easy
to use, quick to learn, efficient to operate.
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Why design?
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What did I get myself
into, asking such big questions? Here's an example that illustrates
the tremendous power of a subtle but important design change.
Most of us have a stove that looks
like the one on the left. Which knob controls which burner? It's not at
all clear. Now, re-design the stove so that the center knobs are
a bit lower, as on the right. The role of each knob becomes obvious.
This stove works!
(Thanks to writer and consultant
Don Norman for this example.) |
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| Yes, I have built systems . . . |
. . . and I'm attentive to the
kinds of internal structure that is needed, the importance of detail, the
importance of appropriate tools. Design and programming is a social
process, and I'm considerate of those who will collaborate me, and those
who work with systems I've designed. |
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| Design vs.
Build |
Even though a prototyping approach
is often a helpful design process, the real building of a system is as
different from design as house building is from architecture. The prototype
is more like a model that an architect might build. Excellent programmers
may not be good designers, and great designers may not even be good programmers. |
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A seasoned
Progress developer |
Progress is an integrated relational
database, language, and set of graphic layout tools. Among Progress
developers, I'm known as a guru -- a senior consultant who is widely respected.
I've worked with Progress since the company began, and with the founders
of Progress Software in a prior company, and have had plenty of experience
with the language, the style, the culture. I'm sought after as a
consultant, trainer, and lecturer in this field -- even though my focus
now is more on user interface and database design. See my Progress
page for more information. |
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| On the podium |
People invite me to speak because
I create fun and excitement. With titles like On being lazy and
absent-minded -- and a great system developer, I get the audience engaged,
laughing, and thinking about important questions. My topics usually
have to do with the social context of computing, but they can be much more
technical. |
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| Listening and discernment |
Decision-making among Quakers (Friends)
is done by a "sense of the meeting" process, which has a lot in common
with consensus. Having been one of the presiding officers of the
Quakers in New England, and as an associate of Friends Board Consulting,
I've had lots of opportunities to practice this method. As president
of the board of an independent school, I've been able to refine it in a
purely secular setting. Listening and consensus-building in religious
and educational settings is valuable training for others kinds of collaborative
work Each part of my life is good practice for each other! |
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My other life
as a photographer |
I used to keep this separate from
my other work -- but why? It's about looking carefully, seeing, transforming
my vision into something you can see and use. It's about passion
and excitement. And it's about knowing the world around me.
All of these things are as important in consulting as in the art of photography.
Again . . . each part of my life is good practice for each other! |
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| Core values and beliefs |
More and more businesses believe
that a dual bottom line -- profitability and social responsibility -- is
possible, and, indeed, necessary in today's world. Maine
Businesses for Social Responsiblity stands for these values. I'm
a member of this group, and have been invited several times to speak about
using (and not abusing) information systems in a humane business environment. |
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| Let me know who you
are |
E-mail
arthur@arthurfink.com
Phone 207 .
615 .
5722
Arthur Fink Consulting
10 New Island Ave Peaks Island, Maine 04108 |
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