Re: Metrics :: Usability Group Performance

You have a few different things you're asking for and they are
measured differently.

You can do work internally to gather metrics and you can also look to
external benchmarks to measure Enterprise's performance against. Some
of them, like Forrester or an industry evaluator, may do an analysis
of how you measure up and include web site performance like usability.

If you want to say the UX group had a certain impact on the business
I'd start with
- listing out the things you've worked on
- then see what the primary goal(s) from the business perspective were
for those things
- see from there what you can actually measure quantitatively (usage
metrics, call center volume, email volume)
- see what you can measure qualitatively (usability study outcomes,
pre and post-launch surveys, feedback forums)

User satisfaction with products the UX team has worked on
- survey the users on how satisfied they say they are
- metrics of usage pre and post UX work (did the metrics you wanted to
increase/decrease do so?)

Staff performance
- the only thing i can think of here is you can get qualitative
reviews of the groups you've worked with - i assume UX doesn't work on
its own but is part of projects and collaborates with various areas of
the business.  They could say how effective UX was in helping the
project meet its goals.

Good luck,
Wendy


On 10/24/07, Belanger, Hugues <[email protected]> wrote:
> Bill,
> Generally speaking, we are trying to optimize our business value within Enterprise. We are no exception since every group is required to do it and will be competing for an award.
>
> The performance of the staff is ultimately what I want to measure. I was thinking of the impact the usability staff has on end users could be a measure that we take into account. Likewise, so could user satisfaction, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness.
>
> In a perfect world, I would like to be able to counter balance speed with doing the right thing. A priori, I do not have anything against measuring "doing the right thing" in terms of user metrics.
>
> Regards,
> -hugues
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Killam [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 8:44 AM
> To: Belanger, Hugues; [email protected]
> Subject: RE: Metrics :: Usability Group Performance
>
> >Has anyone else successfully used metrics to measure the performance of
> their group?
>
> I can't tell if you mean you want to measure the performance of the staff who do usability work for you, the impact usability had had on end users, or the performance of end users doing their work.  Are you trying to cost justify (or optimize) the usability group within Enterprise?
>
> Bill
> -------------------------------------------------------
> Bill Killam, MA CHFP
> President, User-Centered Design, Inc.
> 20548 Deerwatch Place
> Ashburn, VA 20147
> email: [email protected]
> Work/Fax: (703) 729-0998
> Mobile: (703) 626-6318
> Web: www.user-centereddesign.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion) [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Belanger, Hugues
> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 12:44 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Metrics :: Usability Group Performance
>
> We will soon be tracking the performance of our usability group with metrics.
>
> We want to balance timeliness, cost, and quality of the products we develop.
> Finding a set of key metrics that will help drive the right behaviors (e.g.
> do things faster but without cutting corners) is essential.
>
> Has anyone else successfully used metrics to measure the performance of their group?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Hugues Belanger
> Manager :: Usability Architecture
> Enterprise Rent-A-Car
>
>
>
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-- 
Wendy Cown
[email protected]

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