Home > User-Centered Design

User-Centered Design

There are three main principles to a user-centered design in product development:  1) “Know thy user; 2) Involve users early and continuously; and 3) Frequent iteration toward measurable goals. 

• “Know thy user” – Technicians are the experts in their requirements to accomplish their tasks and goals.  They know the problems they encounter, the ways they “workaround” the system, the tools they need, and have valuable input as to what prevents them from finishing their tasks and goals.  Obtaining and considering this information is crucial in developing a usable manual.

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that because you understand what you mean, that your user will as well.  It’s not a question of whether the manual works for you.  After all, as the manual’s developer, you know more about the manual than anyone.  The question is whether the manual ‘works’ for your users, i.e., is it effective, efficient, and satisfying?

• Involve users early and continuously – Technicians need to be involved in the product development process in effective ways from the beginning.  Understanding of the technician and their input reduces the product costs in training and rewriting.  Early writing decisions are the most costly to change later through PCRs when the user finds the errors after publication release. 

Although it is best to have access to a usability professional for user testing and analysis, often that is not possible.  Without professional training in the usability field, creating a successful user experience design does take a willingness to plan your approach.  The user is not always good at describing, explaining, and predicting their behavior.  Therefore, it is necessary to have some working knowledge of the usability process, methods, and tools to assist you.

•  Frequent iteration toward measurable usability goals - The key to involving users in the manual development process is to take an iterative or cyclical approach. An iterative process is one in which the procedure is evaluated, corrections are made, and then it is tested again. This process continues until no more errors are found.  User feedback is gathered early and often by using evaluative methods at each stage of the process which drives the manual procedures’ development. 

Even if some important errors are not found during one evaluation, another evaluative cycle offers another opportunity to identify the problem or issue.  Each iteration is an opportunity to bring in real users and evaluate different aspects of the evolving technical procedure writing process. 

Cognitive Processes

In order to get started "knowing thy user", you may find it helpful to have some basic background knowledge in psychology.  After all, psychology is the study of human behavior and cognitive processes and creating documentation to guide the maintenance technician's behavior and their understand their cognitive processes is part of the technical writer's goal. 

Norman's Action Cycle

An interesting way to think of the processes of the task completion is through a model designed by Donald A. Norman (1988) called "Norman's Action Cycle".  This cycle is presented with an explanation of the "maintenance technician's action cycle".  We have found this to be an enlightening way to think of how technical documentation aids or can obstruct the maintenance technician's successful task completion.