The Zen of Just-in-Time Usability

There are process definitions for UI design and usability engineering within Nokia, as required by standard engineering practice. However, these processes are typically presented in terms of required documents and inspections, supporting tools, and checklists of issues-not as step-by-step procedures to follow in every case. Within the defined structure, activity sequences and even responsibilities may vary considerably. The interaction designers and software engineers share primary responsibility for producing a usable system. The role of the usability expert is to support the design work.

Figure 11.1 shows a number of points where usability support can occur. The points in the figure are representative rather than exhaustive. Each design effort demands a different set of activities for the usability expert, depending on the scope of the change and the questions that surface during design. Usability activities are not planned by a central authority, but are 'pulled' from the usability expert as needed, just as inventory items are pulled by kanban cards in the Japanese factory. To the extent that planning is required, it, too, is pulled from the usability expert. And each expert, like every other team member, has a personal responsibility to envision future needs and be prepared to meet them on demand.

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Figure 11.1: Just-in-time usability in the product creation process.

This is the just-in-time approach. In Nokia's usability engineering, as in the Japanese factory, the defining features are rapid and flexible responses to novel situations, team responsibility for the quality and timeliness of the output, the broad expertise of the individual team members, and an opportunistic attitude that is especially effective in supporting continuous improvement of the entire product line. From a functionalist perspective, the similarity between the Nokia approach and the Japanese method is not surprising. Both are rational responses to the need for efficient use of resources in the face of rapidly changing, hard-to-predict demands. Indeed, the founder of the just-in-time system, Toyota's Taiichi Ohno, suggests that Henry Ford might have designed such a system if faced with today's business and technological constraints.

Just-in-time processes address the weak points of traditional planning by defining a 'lean production' system that is appropriate to the modern business environment. The Japanese system deals with the relatively well-defined issue of unpredictable demands for factory output. Nokia responds to the more complex issue of unpredictable technological development and chaotic interactions among emerging systems. In both systems, the key is a Zen-like technique of applying just the right force at just the right time.

Recall the Zen apprentice who stands in awe of the master butcher. The master's knife never dulls, and his arm never tires, because he never resorts to force. He carves by gently guiding the knife along its natural course. In the same way, Nokia's design and usability teams forgo the lock-step development routines that might characterize a more structured company. The path unfolds, and we lead by following it.



Mobile Usability(c) How Nokia Changed the Face of the Mobile Phone
Mobile Usability: How Nokia Changed the Face of the Mobile Phone
ISBN: 0071385142
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 142

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