Helmut Degen (short bio)

Siemens Corporation, Princeton, NJ, USA

Objectives:

At the end of the tutorial, participants should be aware of the relevance of "experience architecture and design for efficiency" and be able to apply selected techniques and templates which help to optimize a user experience architecture and design for efficiency.

Content:

Efficiency of use has always been a topic of interest for human-computer interaction, in usability and in use experience. Efficiency of use is directly related to productivity which is relevant for many users and (industrial) organizations. It influences directly operational cost and total cost of ownership.

A standard method today for efficiency is to measure time-on-tasks in a summative usability. When inefficiencies are detected in such a test, the project phase in which such tests are performed are often so late in a development project that it is too late to significantly improve it. Efficiency of use can hardly be achieved with “test for efficiency” – it needs a “design for efficiency” approach from the get-go.

There is another consideration for efficiency of use. The type of user involvement is changing. In the past, users “interacted” with systems. Today, more and more systems take over (semi-) automated tasks, and the user is informed about the progress. Due to a deviation, a system may request a user’s decision. This kind of user involvement is called “intervention”. Efficiency for intervention should be determined, too.

The need for efficiency is applicable across software applications, but particularly relevant for large, complex eco-systems, like IoT systems, e-commerce systems, manufacturing systems, control systems etc.

Efficiency requires not only an efficiency focused design of graphical user interfaces. It requires technical support, too, including certain functions and performance characteristics. Therefore, efficiency of use needs an “experience architecture and design” framework which is closely connected with the technical software architecture and design.

Based on research, there is no systematic approach available today to design for efficiency from the get-go. The tutorial presents an “experience architecture and design” framework, developed for the user experience of complex industrial systems. It can be used for consumer applications, too.

The framework consists of many techniques and templates which can be used individually, but which also connected. The tutorial will cover core tools and techniques organized in three parts:

• Experience foundation: Business model, user involvement metrics, workflow (as-is), user roles
• Experience architecture: Workflow (to-be), user involvement system, user involvement points, involvement goals
• Experience design: Involvement

The material is published in the book “Respect user’s time – Experience architecture and design for efficiency” which will be published in 2022. Workshop material is available on the website www.designforefficiency.com

Benefits:

The benefit for the participants is to raise awareness for the topic of efficiency. The participant will get an overview about the framework and will be able to apply some of the presented techniques immediately for their projects.

Target Audience:

Design, UX, HCI, usability practitioners, students, as well as academia

Additional platform or tool to be used by the tutor:

Website www.designforefficiency.com where workshop material is made available for free.

List of materials or devices required by the participants:

Identify an application example to which the presented framework could be applied.