A shoe may be used to drive in a nail, but does it have usability?

Wikipedia defines usability as "a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal." Almost anything can be made into a tool.  The focus of usability is on how easy that tool can be used to accomplish the desired objective. Which has better usability for driving nails - a shoe or a hammer?

I have had the occasion to interview web designers and user interface (UI) engineers. One of my favorite questions is to ask them for a web site they think is really well designed and one that is not well designed.  I then have them justify their selections. It gives me some insight into how they evaluate the user experience. As technical people, they generally prefer sites that are focused, easy to navigate, and surface information in an expected way. They value information over graphics.

We have all experienced software or web sites that seem to read your mind. Needed information always seems right at hand without requiring you to read the whole page. You finish your work quickly and in a positive frame of mind. If a site is bad, you avoid it unless absolutely necessary. If good UI is so obvious (and so important), why aren't all products or web sites well designed?!

The reason is people!  They have many similarities, but they each see the world through a different set of eyes. They may also have different goals or objectives for their use of the system.

Take the time to understand your user community and their expectations.  Will they use the system every day or only on an occasional basis? Are they after detail or simplicity? Do they prefer text or graphics? Are they self motivated or being pushed? The answers to these questions may impact what level of complexity or navigation they will be comfortable with.

A useful model for solution evaluation is to first define the expected workflows. For example, an asset has a problem. How is the user informed of the problem? What are the steps and information necessary to diagnose the type of problem? How do you determine root cause? What are the options for repair? What people, systems, and other processes are involved or impacted by the workflow?  Create a written summary of each workflow with emphasis on the information required to perform each step.

With workflow summaries and user characteristics in hand, you are now ready to approach the solution UI and judge it for usability.  Have your user community involved in the evaluation.  This will help you better understand their needs and they will have more ownership of the selected solution. Walk through the workflows for each solution under consideration. The scoring is simple - does the solution make it easy for people to accomplish their particular goal?

Read the related articles for Randy's 10-Step Series:
10 Steps to a Successful Remote Service Evaluation
Step 1. Successful Remote Service Evaluations - Have a Vision of What Success Looks Like
Step 2. Successful Remote Service Evaluations - Work with Cross Functional Teams
Step 3. Successful Remote Service Evaluations - Answer What's in it For Your Customers! 
Step 4. Successful Remote Service Evaluations - Agree on a Scoring Matrix and an Evaluation Process
Step 5. Successful Remote Service Evaluations - Security Matters
Step 6. Successful Remote Service Evaluations - Scalability is More Than Just Multiplication