Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pacbell!pbhyg!ria
From: ria@pbhyg.PacBell.COM (Richard I Anderson)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: consistency
Message-ID: <1614@pbhyg.PacBell.COM>
Date: 21 Feb 89 01:41:48 GMT
References: <714@cogsci.ucsd.EDU>
Reply-To: ria@pbhyg.PacBell.COM (Richard I Anderson)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA
Lines: 36

In article <714@cogsci.ucsd.EDU> norman@cogsci.UUCP (Donald A Norman-UCSD Cog Sci Dept) presents some words of Jonathon Grudin:
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Date: Sun, 5 Feb 89 15:06:49 CST
>From: grudin@mcc.com (Jonathan Grudin)
>
>                                   ..., one approach will lead to the
>design that is better than "consistent" designs. That approach is a
>close examination of the users' and their work, broadly defined to
>include sensory, motor, and cognitive psychology, users' work
>environment as well as their computer-specific tasks, and a broad
>picture of the system environment they will work within. This isn't
>easy, especially for product developers who may envision a wide range
>of users, but it is the approach that has to be taken. "Be consistent"
>is only a good rule of thumb when you are working in relative
>ignorance of your users and their work environments.
>

I think the same can be said for many guidelines other than "be consistent"
also.

Project personnel often identify/select design guidelines to which a product's
design is to adhere.  Too little of this identification/selection (and too
few design specifics) is (are) based on analyses of users' thoughts, tasks,
experiences, ...  Iterative design may actually promote this somewhat,
because some believe that iteration will "take care of everything."  However,
as I argued in a presentation at a recent User Interface Symposium, iteration
doesn't always succeed adequately, even when the testing on which iteration
is based is conducted by "usability laboratory" personnel, and particularly
if testing is restricted to a laboratory (where it fails to be impacted by
work environment, other user tasks, ...).

R. I. Anderson
Human Factors Analyst
Pacific Bell
2600 Camino Ramon, Room 2E850                     (415)823-3715
San Ramon, CA 94583               {att,bellcore,sun,ames,pyramid}!pacbell!ria