From UCD to XPDesign
XPDesign™ is a massive improvement to traditional user centred design (UCD). It provides a bridge between UCD and software engineering, using the rigour and precision of software engineering to create user interface designs and specifications that developers can directly code from, without interpretation.
XPDesign:
- Builds an interface around people’s work practices and best practice in the domain. If the interface only reflects how people currently do tasks, there is a significant risk of embedding bad practices in the interface and being unable to change processes as the business changes
- Outlines an explicit relationship to business performance indicators and is based on a balanced approach to measuring and managing performance. Rather than just having users at the centre of the process, we use the Balanced Scorecard
- Has a systematic, robust and repeatable method for moving from requirements to design. It empowers all our consultants to produce the same high quality results, rather than being subject to varying individual skill levels
- Gets the design right the first time by removing the traditional iterative ‘trial and error’ often found in user interface design. XPDesign™ is not about prototyping a user interface to ‘see if it works’
- Is conducted within a change management framework, reflecting that focussing on the technology alone will not guarantee the expected results. Understanding and managing the broader organisation system is a key component to achieving high performance outcomes.
XPDesign provides a clear line of site between strategy and the application through the Balanced Scorecard framework. The methodology acts as a decision making and evaluation framework to determine how the user interface needs to work and how well it has met the stated KPIs.
XPDesign™ greatly enhances UCD processes by wrapping them in a business focussed framework, and providing a systematic, predictable and repeatable bridge between requirements and design.
The following table summarises the benefits of XPDesign compared to traditional development and user centred design:
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Traditional User Centered Design (UCD) |
PTG's High performance user interface design process: XPDesign™ | |
| Does not requirement numerous iterations of trial and error design/test cycles to get the design right |
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| Is not dependent on highly skilled designers to produce high quality |
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| Creates user interfaces with a significantly longer lifetime, that do not need to continually change to suit changing busines needs |
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| Does not require significant rework following usability testing |
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| Rather than embedding work processes as they are, aligns them with best pratice and business performance |
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| Aligns and integrates people, technology and the business to achieve the vision and KPIs |
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| Uses the Balanced Scorecard as a strategic management tool to measure the impact of the design |
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| Stop the requirements from continuously changing, adding to costs and causing delays |
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| Documents the user interface in a form that supports direct coding, needing no interpretation |
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| Gets the design right the first time, significantly reducing development time and costs |
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| Reduces screen count by 50-80%, reducing effort to code, maintain, train and support |
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| Increases interface scalability and flexibility as the business changes in the future |
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| Reduces the total costs of ownership by decreasing support and maintenance costs |
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| Increases long term performance, improving ROI |
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| Incorporates the broader organisational system to ensure smooth integration ino the workplace |
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Most importantly, XPDesign standardises the design process so all of our consultants produce high quality, high performance user interface designs.
