52 days, 11 hours, 18 minutes and 3 seconds
till my Churchill Trip - 11th May - 13th July 2012
So what does it take to design a mobile application. Personally I believe that the thought process behind designing a mobile app requires a different skill set. I am not talking about programming per say, but the through process in designing a mobile app that is intuitive and does not require a major training manual or instruction.
Recently I was in a presentation held by an Apple representative on a case study of theirs. It was not so much that they insisted that the Apple environment is a better solution but the process that they articulated about the designing of a mobile app. The case study was based on Mount Sinai Hospital and the monster of systems they had, they looked ugly and they looked as though you would require a masters of some sort to be able to use the systems.
By the way there were some 60+ systems which had been developed in a window environment. I was not so much about the environment that it had been designed in but the style which is all to common. Tabs everywhere with buttons for everything. I dare say it captured all that they needed but like so many applications it was designed to capture data and forgot who actually provided the data. The other part was how they captured that data and the process they went through.
It reminded me of a system I once had to assess for a local government client. While reviewing a process within this applications I traced the screens and click that were needed to register a dog. I took 72 screen going backwards and forwards through the system to register one dog. It was incredible for two reasons. One that anyone would design such a system and two that anyone would buy the system and not challenge the process. It just highlights that IT and developers have had is so good that they could sell such software.
Going back on the Mount Sinai Hospital example the process they followed was to identify from the users the key processes they used. Working with them then streamlining those processes to reach an agreed end result. From there then replicating those processes within an application on a mobile device. As the process was a current process of practice the replication on the device just meant that there was a position of reference so instruction was not required to the level with some of the systems that are developed. Using the user centric idea just showed the simplicity and beauty of the whole process and end user experience.
The issue and challenge I know have is how do I change the way that business works with developers and understand that they need to own the space of usability. You don't have to be a techs geek you just need to know your processes and then find a solution that can closely replicate them.
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