Anecdotes or Data?

W. Edwards Deming said "In God we trust, all others bring data." We work in an environment where our training and support staff have historically had a lot of input on our end product. Everything from business needs to user interface to deployment strategy.  The struggle we have is that this input is almost completely anecdotal. The stories are dripping with empathy that our support staff (rightfully!) feel for the clients calling in with problems. The end result is, we get software that is easier to support or train instead of software that is easier to use.

Deming and many others since him have put a lot of emphasis on data driven decisions above emotional decisions. It is easy to make emotional decisions and then spend time digging up the facts that support that decision. It is a difficult task to gather all of the data and look through it with an open mind; with no prejudice. I have been involved in medical education for well over a decade so I have a lot of history and collective knowledge. One of the most common mistake I make is thinking that I know what the user wants before I ask her. As a former developer, now business analyst, if I neglect to ask, I tend to steer toward software that is easy to develop.

User driven development is important if you want software that is easy to use - and you do. If you are designing software for a student, talk to the student. If you are designing software for the master, talk to the master. If you are designing software for everybody, narrow down your audience and then talk to them. And after you talk to them and design for them, measure your success. Interface analytics like Clicky give you user data, not anecdotes. Implementing a survey is a great idea. Be careful how you do this or you can end up with a lot of information that isn't helpful. Using the Software Usability Scale allows you to collect data. These things allow you to make informed decisions to create great software that your target users will enjoy using.
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ciao

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