Every now and then a teacher assigns one of my URLs as class reading. It's always a thrill. (Susana Pajares Tosca and Chris Willerton were the first, I think.)
This particular link is embarrassing because I've written many usability reports, and this one is NOT one of my most professional. The tone is chatty (qualitative) and it reports only on a minor "icebreaker" activity, not a full review. However, most of my professional usability reports (including the ones for Trellix) have been too proprietary to post online so this sample is all that's out there. Dan Bricklin (the client in this case) believes in exposing all aspects of his process for others to learn from, and since the site was more or less a personal project of his, he included in the site one of the usability reviews of it.
A course syllabus from Berkeley SIMS IS 214; the other readings look terrific!
The usability report referenced; *blush*
You can follow Dan Bricklin's continuing (professional) adventures on his weblog.
I cannot resist adding a bonus link to one of the most fun (for me) samples of writing I did for Dan. (I did some sample documents in Trellix format that were LOTS more fun than this, but this is the most fun of the ones that are still out there in HTML.) He asked me to do a sample document for a fictional company going through a reorg. Here it is, inside one of his slide shows. The goal was to show how an online document could be made more "scannable" than the equivalent content on paper. I am amused to see that he posted the version that includes a "to do" list of what else could be done to make the document even better. (Again, Dan believes it's important to expose process.) Anyway, the fun part for me was that I got to include (what I hope was) some satire in the background memos...along with the usual...
Kappa's hard-charging Director, J. Osbert Kennell, will be leaving immediately to pursue other opportunities. Os has been a "true believer" whose ability to articulate the Kappa technology and approach have made Kappa what it is today...
In our global marketplace, the risks are great, but so are the rewards. These are difficult times, as Sigma attempts to adjust to global change while continuing to provide our customers with the best solutions possible and extend our domination of all three major product categories. Thank you in advance for remaining flexible and willing to make whatever changes may be necessary for all of us to succeed. Etc...
Ironically, I've just registered for the last two classes that I'll take as part of my UTS degree in interactive multimedia, and one of them is about "global IT management issues" - so I hope I'll be learning about the reality behind the hype-y language I parodied. Will report back on that!
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