Usability

Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, etc.

The Fallacy of User Error

On Monday, Feb 3rd we all witnessed a glitch associated with a very high profile app--the counting of votes in the Iowa Caucuses.

In reading various news sources about the glitch, we've noticed all too many people blaming themselves for not being tech-savy. In a recent #HITsm tweetchat, a similar discussion emerged.

People are all too quick to blame themselves for not being able to use a poorly designed (or tested) system. We call this the "Fallacy of User Error."

EHR Usability: It is NOT a training issue

In a recent blog post by John Lynn, (of Healthcare Scene fame) , John discusses the irony of the following two statements:

  • EHR Training Improves EHR Satisfaction and
  • Physicians Don’t Want to Make Time for EHR Training

Many, many times in our usability evaluation and design career when a development team isn't really interested in making enhancements to fix specific issues that we've identified, we've heard something like the phrase, "There is nothing wrong with the user interface, it is a training issue."

What is Human-centered Design?

Human-centered design is everywhere.

Look, and feel the chair that you are sitting in right now. If you are sitting in a modern office chair it probably has adjustable arms, the height of the chair can be adjusted to match your height. Most likely the bottom of the chair has special contours to better match the shape of your butt. This is Human-centered design. The developers of the chair knew that humans would be sitting in the chair and they made special design considerations to make the chair better match their human user.

A Bad UX can cause Death by 1000 cuts

The ISO 9241 standard presents the definition of usability as Effective Efficient and Satisfying in a specified context of use.

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