E-Commerce Times Talkback

Re: Web Firms Could Have Benefited from More 'Usability,' Experts Say
Posted by: ECT News 2001-06-06 14:38:50

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Palm Beach County elections officials and foundering dot-commers have more
in common than their short-lived fame, according to people working in an
expanding technology field.

They say both could have eased their pain in the past year if they had done
more to tap the field's expertise: usability.

Re: Web Firms Could Have Benefited from More 'Usability,' Experts Say
Posted by: Thomas Fehlman 2001-06-13 07:11:11 In reply to: ECT News

The same story can be told almost in every aspects. Decision making without understanding the premises leads to base decisions on financial metrics only. There are much better metrics available, such as Quality Function Deployment, Function Points, etc., but the decision makers do not know about it. They often do not even ask for.

I believe it is a matter of wrong expectations among humans: They expect managers shall do the decisions. This is as in former times when people believed in their kings and chieftains. It is as wrong as the kingdom wisdom was.

Decision making should be managed and structured, not left to lonely and incompetent managers.

Dr. Thomas Fehlmann

Euro Project Office AG
Member of IT Quality Group
Zeltweg 50
CH-8032 Zürich

Web www.e-p-o.com

Re: Web Firms Could Have Benefited from More 'Usability,' Experts Say
Posted by: m. el-darwish 2001-06-07 13:03:18 In reply to: ECT News

We're thrilled to see that the press recoginzes the important role Usability plays in assuring efficiency, loyalty and satisfacton. For too long, short-sighted business strategy and technology-oriented profiteers have pushed Usability down the priority list. This lack of user-centric design results in a global productivity loss estimated to cost billions per year.

Mahmoud El-Darwish
President, UPA-DC-Metro Chapter
301-523-2255
www.upassoc.org