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HFI recognizes 1,000th CUA:
Mapping the road to usability success
by Jesse Berkowitz
One thousand is quite a large number. If all one thousand CUAs lay down head-to-toe, the line would stretch over a mile long (not to imply they're laying down on the job).
Yet it's taken only five years to surpass 1,000 Certified Usability Analysts (CUAs) worldwide, representing over twenty countries. First launched in April 2002, HFI's CUA program has quickly grown to become the leading credential for usability practitioners.
We're proud to introduce Stacy Sundown-Kiene of MapQuest as our official 1,000th CUA.
| "The whole process of doing user analysis upfront made a light bulb go off for me. I realized how much work it could save us down the road if we took the time to really understand our users at the start." |
"When I heard about being 1,000th CUA, I immediately emailed my manager with the news, since she supported and encouraged me to pursue the training and certification," says Stacy. "The announcement ended up getting passed around our company and I received congratulatory messages from many people here at MapQuest. The CUA credential will definitely help move our usability efforts forward."
Stacy made a conscious career choice to get involved with usability about ten years ago, in her previous position at Fidelity. After conducting her first usability test, she was hooked immediately.
"It was so exciting seeing people interact with something I had worked on," she explains. "While the feedback isn't always positive, you learn so much watching people use your designs."
Stacy has spent the past five years on the MapQuest design team, mostly focused on their well-known public website. While setting goals for '06, she proposed a stronger emphasis on usability methods and was met with great receptivity by management. She researched usability training courses to gain more skills and eventually took HFI's 4-pack in Atlanta – all four courses offered consecutively over a two-week stretch ("That was intense but great!").
"The whole process of doing user analysis upfront made a light bulb go off for me," she recalls. "I realized how much work it could save us down the road if we took the time to really understand our users at the start. The HFI courses gave concrete, well-thought-out knowledge covering the whole range of user-centered design."
Since MapQuest has a small, nimble design team, they can quickly respond to user insights and customer feedback. In addition to usability testing, they regularly conduct focus groups and surveys to get input and new ideas. Many of these have recently been introduced on mapquest.com, such as draggable maps and multi-point routing (trips with stops along the way).
Stacy and her colleagues are also internal advocates for the importance of usability and promote making it part of the standard development process. In fact, they declared the last week of September "Usability Week" and decorated a meeting room with illustrations of MapQuest user personas, customer quotes, and even showed highlights of usability testing videos.
"Many people never really get a chance to see our users interact with the website, so this was a very popular event," says Stacy. "It didn't hurt that we offered popcorn and treats either."
When you're the 1,000th CUA, you've got good reason to celebrate.
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