Gestern wurde der World Usability Day begangen. Ich war in Köln dabei und es war ein sehr angenehmer und gelungener Event.

Trotzdem (oder gerade deshalb) möchte ich Euch ein paar kritische Worte von Jared Spool über den World Usability Day nicht vorenthalten, liebe Zielgruppe. Der Artikel ist zwar von 2006, die Kritik ist aber immer noch aktuell…

Today’s usability practice is about measurement and evaluation. Can we determine how usable something is? Can we determine where frustration comes from? Can we determine when we’ve delighted a user (and how to do that again)? These are important things to know, but knowing them, by themselves, doesn’t change designs for the better.
It’s the practice of design where the change comes from. But World Usability Day doesn’t really talk about designing. [...] Most usability practitioners are not designers. They are an important part of the design process, but they are not the sole contributor. So, this effort of making products more usable needs to include the designers. [...]
It’s not clear that usability practice always makes good business sense. There’s no evidence, to date, that strictly following the doctrine of User-Centered Design always produces better market results. (In fact, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest it doesn’t!) There’s a lot that’s not understood about designing quality products, which is why even great design companies like Apple still have duds. We need to do more research into what really makes a difference and what is just the stone in the soup.

→ World Usability Day: Is it Harmful to Usability Practitioners?

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