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Mark Di Sciullo
Our developers embraced usability and were supportive of defining the user interface requirements up front. They have a genuine desire to get the user interface right the first time, since they have to re-work everything if there's a problem."
by Jesse Berkowitz
"Usability is an absolutely essential part of technology," says Mark Di Sciullo. "As technology evolves, the focus is more on what customers want from an interface – whereas the other parts of technology are becoming commodities. E-commerce sites are the face of your organization, and you have to get them right."
TD Waterhouse offers products and services that let customers manage their own investments and personal finances. HFI introduced usability at TD Waterhouse several years ago, performing "expert reviews" during the redesign of an online trading application. HFI's CEO Eric Schaffer also gave a presentation on the importance of designing with the customer in mind.
The message was well received. Today, TD Waterhouse has institutionalized its own methodology for user-centered design.
"Usability became part of our software development cycle," says Mark. "Defining the user interface is one of the first steps for every project, even before we finalize the functional requirements. There is just as much importance placed on the user interface as on the system development."
Mark was pleasantly surprised by the receptivity to usability, particularly from developers.
"Our developers embraced usability and were supportive of defining the user interface requirements up front. They have a genuine desire to get the user interface right the first time, since they have to re-work everything if there's a problem," he says.
Certain redesign projects were necessary, though, as TD Waterhouse sought to improve many of its legacy systems. These included sites for retail brokerage and banking, institutional advisors, and active traders. It's critical that these platforms for placing complex trades and moving large sums of money are easy to use – both to attract/retain customers and to prevent errors.
To keep the redesign effort focused on users, Mark and his team created personas based on actual customer data. A persona is a concrete characterization of a representative user (e.g. "Jack Smith is a retiree managing his IRA" or "Laura Hodges is an active trader in New York City"). Personas synthesize the information contained in user, task, and environmental profiles and clarify the underlying design assumptions. A small set of personas lets Mark's team conceptually manage and prioritize many different user groups.
Applying usability principles to this extent requires management support, which Mark's group has earned.
"An organization must understand the concepts behind usability in order to support it. Usability can't just be lumped in with graphic design," he says. "At our company, usability is accepted as a valuable best practice, not just another item that adds time to the development process.
"I require that all the interface designers on my team be trained in user-centered design and earn their Certified Usability Analyst credential from HFI."
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