Lent 2014 - Day 27 - What I Do for a Living

What I Do for a Living

I am a Usability Specialist.  Don't know what that is? Well, I think I'll sing you a song!

Seriously, sometimes, like today, I LOVE my job.  Today I got to do something I haven't done in a long time, I got to run Usability Evaluations on a website.  What's that you ask? Ok, I'll tell you, but I won't sing.

Usability is all about making things (in my case it's usually software interfaces or websites) easier to use. What I do is ask a user to perform a set of tasks on a website and observe how easy or difficult it is for them to complete the tasks.  I have them think out loud while they are performing the task so I can gain an understanding of their thought process and what they are looking for on the site.  I sometimes use software to capture what the user is doing and saying and it's great when I can have someone else take notes during the session so I can focus on facilitating the session and interviewing the user.  That's it in a nutshell.

What's so great about all that you ask? Well, sheesh, what isn't great about it!?!

You see, while I'm observing a session, I learn something EVERY SINGLE TIME!  

I've been working in web design / usability for about 25 years now (God, I'm getting old), ever since Al Gore invented the internet (I was actually at that press conference, it was at ACB in front of the CRAY Supercomputer) and Mosaic started supporting images. Despite all of the years of experience I have under my belt, there is always something I can learn by watching someone else go through a website or interface.

You know what else is awesome? Being able to make improvements to that site or interface based on that user feedback.  I help improve peoples lives! Ok, I at least make the experience of using that particular site/interface better.  It's the little things people!

I love seeing that Ah Ha moment in a designer or content provider's eyes when they finally get why people have been having trouble using their site/interface.  I love helping them figure out how to fix it and I really love watching a user then be successful, where before they failed.

I have to say, it's all pretty cool as far as I'm concerned, and can be very rewarding!