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Eric Schaffer,
Ph.D., CPE, is CEO and Founder of Human Factors International, Inc.
He has been involved in creating and teaching software design for
more than 14 years. He can be reached by e-mail at
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John Sorflaten,
Ph.D., CPE, started out writing and directing training films and
documentaries then switched to UI design. "A screen is a screen,"
he says. He works at Human Factors International, Inc. and can be
reached by email at
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The insouciant, Cheshire-cat smile of Alfred E. Newman characterizes
the penetrating satire of Mad Magazine's writers and editors. You recall
bad-boy Alfred's by-line: "What, Me Worry?" Now Mad Magazine
appears on TV. Too bad we don't have time to watch it. We're too busy
fixing applications developed with Alfred's philosophy. "What, Me
Worry?" substitutes for adequate usability testing in the development
life-cycle of too many corporate applications.
Test Early
Good screen design requires usability testing early in the development
cycle. Designers try substitutes that all fail. For example, dependence
on user comments fails. Dependence solely on user representatives and
solely on design walkthroughs fail. Usability outcomes from beta testing
fail too, because beta results are too late. Usability changes become
too costly to implement.
Usability testing early in the design phase can save you so much time,
money, grief, and unneeded conversations (arguments), that the current
failures of corporate America deserve as much satire as we can invent.
"What, Me Worry?" characterizes an ostrich syndrome: "What
I don't see can't hurt me." Many managers in a hurry invoke ostrich
mentality to solve their schedule problems. In our design world, we dub
it "cryptotesting." Recall that cryptodesign manifests when
a developer uses a design solution suitable for one problem, but misapplies
it to another, totally different situation. Instead, use soul design to
get it right.
Test Right
Cryptotesting says, in effect, "as long as I feel good, then the
application is good." This kind of testing is great for dating or
marriage(!), but a hazard for application development. This attitude shows
us that the developer has sold his or her soul to the "feel good
test." (See Figure 1.) Neurologists
(brain doctors) have a name for this disregard of objective evidence:
anosognosia, meaning "disease of knowledge." Let's see how it
manifested in one medical case from the US Supreme Court.
THE ANOSOGNOSIA OF JUSTICE DOUGLAS In 1975, Supreme
Court Justice William O. Douglas suffered a stroke that affected the right
hemisphere of his brain. Since language functions reside in the left hemisphere,
Justice Douglas continued to speak as fluently as ever. Therefore, even
though the left side of his body was paralyzed from the stroke, everyone
expected this brilliant and decisive member of the Court to continue his
work on the bench. However, events slowly gave contrary evidence. First,
he checked himself out of the hospital against medical advice (he did
this several times). Then he trivialized his physical limitations, attributing
his hospitalization to "a fall" and discounting his paralysis
as "a myth." After being confronted with the fact he could not
walk or get out of his wheelchair, he said "Walking has very little
to do with the work of the Court." Still chair-bound, he later invited
reporters to go hiking with him the following month. He repeatedly failed
to follow social convention with other justices and staff. Unable to do
his job, he refused to resign. And after being forced to resign, he often
acted as if he still had the job.
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