Rocky Mountain Chapter of STC November Meeting

STC Member Price:	$20
Price for program and dinner for STC members (except students).
Nonmember Price:	$25
Price for program and dinner for those without STC membership.
Student Price:	$15
Reduced rate for program and dinner for students, both STC members and nonmembers (please provide your student ID at the meeting check-in desk).
Program Only Price:	$7
This covers the cost of the program only and does not include a meal. A beverage is included.
An additional $5 will be assessed for attendees who want dinner, but who register late or show up at the door. Reservations are required through Acteva. Visit http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=90065 to make your reservations.

Agenda:

6:00 - 7:00 pm Networking

7:00 - 9:00 pm Announcements and program

Directions, Transportation, and Parking:

A map and driving instructions are available at this website: http://www.tivoli.org/tivoli/map.html.

Details:

While many folks still think of "usability" as an afterthought, you can make modifications to the User-Centered Design (UCD) process that bring "usability" folks to the requirements gathering and product direction decision stages. One way to achieve this is to separate UCD into two distinct phases, problem definition and solution creation. The modified process looks like this:

Larry Marine

Problem Definition:

Clarify Business and Marketing Objectives
Conduct Initial User Research (requirements gathering)
Prioritize based on user needs and business objectives

Solution Creation:

Conduct detailed user research focusing on the prioritized tasks
Design to the established objectives
Test and refine

The key difference of this approach from traditional UCD is that it identifies the product direction based on user needs and business objectives, as opposed to the more common "build it and they will come" approach, or Ready, Fire, Aim. This new modified UCD approach is more Ready, Aim, Fire, and we call it AIM First. Though this presentation is geared towards those people who are familiar with UCD methods, it also designed to present useful information to those folks just learning about these methods.

About the Speaker: Larry Marine has been a source of cutting-edge thought and practices in the usability arena for 15 years. He is a frequent and respected contributor to several discussion lists, such as CHI and UTEST. Larry holds a degree in Cognitive Science and is a principal at the highly successful and innovative Intuitive Design Group. He and his team have applied their highly evolved research and design processes to websites, software, web applications, information management systems, medical devices, and more; over 100 projects in various domains and technologies. His repeat client list includes Sony, GTE, Canon, Equifax, Ericsson, Vanguard, FedEx Kinko's, and American Airlines, to name a few.

Visit the Meetings Home page for links to summaries and handouts from many past meetings.

Comments?
We strive to provide you with useful and up-to-date information. Please e-mail Nancy Stephenson to share your experiences.