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UCD Practice in SMEs An explorative study in Flanders Jeroen Vanattenhoven* Vanattenhoven*, Andrea Wilkinson**, Wilkinson** David Geerts* * Centre for User Experience Research, IBBT / K.U.Leuven, Belgium ** Media, Arts & Design Faculty, KHLIM, Belgium

1st European Workshop on HCI Design and Evaluation: The influence of domains. Limassol, Cyprus, 8th April 2011

Usewell project goal  Stimulate Human-Centered Design in Flanders  Target = SMEs (without HCD experience)  Develop D l a Roadmap/Toolkit R d /T lkit ffor SME SMEs » http://www.ideo.com/work/method-cards » http://www.servicedesigntools.org/ » http://uxbasis.hellogroup.com/

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Participating organizations  2 IT companies sometimes applying HCD  2 HCD consultancy firms  1 Innovation I ti R&D Department D t t iin a larger l organization  Use their experiences to design a roadmap/toolkit for SMEs without HCD experience in Flanders

Methodology: Process mapping Stimulate discussion about a recently completed project

 Some examples of the method in use: » http://www.interface-our-space.be/mapping-reports

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Methodology: Process mapping  Layers of transparent sheets

Methodology: Process mapping  Icons

Problem

Opportunity

Method

Person

People

Documentation

Change of Role

Phase and duration

Tools

Achievement

Lock

Bomb

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Results

Results: uncertainty  “Business is different than research: a lot is at stake”  “Flexibility is really important”  “The “Th clients li t didn’t did ’t wantt to t tell t ll us their th i budget” b d t”  “Real process is messy, not always that clear/clean”  Conclusions » Prepare client that they will have to deviate from workplan · Don’t provide too much information about the process

» Client should be closely involved throughout process » Workplan for the client, different than workplan used

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Results: Communication  “Presentation should be customized to the client”  “Half of the work is analysis, other half is communicating your work” work  “Present information back to client via workshops (visually)”  “Establish trust with the client, get to know each other”  Conclusions » Visual communication is important » Don’t present conclusions as final » Good relationship with client is more important than ‘being right’

Results: Persuasion  “Dare to innovate, leave fixed ideas, big discussions, clash” Have a vision that the customer doesn’t doesn t even have;  “Have being able to convince them of your vision (=very hard)”  “But difficult to make other people in their organization understand, convince them!”  Conclusions » Try T to get people l understand d d the h benefits b fi off UCD » Insist, even if it is not usually done with customers

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Results: Involvement  “Lot of client contact makes them experience, understand the amount of work that has gone into the design (which might look limited on its own) own)”  Co-design involves all stakeholders, which leads to ownership, communication, and persuasion  Conclusion » Involvement as a crucial element of HCD work

General conclusion  What is important when approaching SMEs with HCD » Managing uncertainty · Budget · Workplan

» Communication · Mainly visual communication · Establishes a good relationship with the client (if done right)

» Persuasion · It is still a challenge to convince people of the value of HCD · Required significant effort

» Involvement · Always beneficial for convincing the client of the approach taken

 Include these aspects in HCD roadmap for SMEs

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Next steps  More thorough analysis of the results » » » »

Transcriptions instead of observer’s notes Discuss more labels Analyze mapping artifacts Triangulate mapping, transcriptions

 In the project » Evaluate basic concept for the roadmap with SMEs without UCD experience » Design overallll structure off concept (roadmap) ( d ) » Build + evaluate + communicate

Any questions? [email protected]

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