Hi Tom,

Great samples, thanks!

What are the top usability issues you are seeing people struggle with?


BR/Ulrik

2008/8/19 Tom Brauch (Fpweb.net Managed Hosting) <[log in to unmask]>:
> Ulrik,
>
> Best of luck with this.  I think this is a great opportunity and by
> great I mean that this is a great big task to take on.  SharePoint needs
> help though.  I think you could be a leader in this field.  SharePoint
> is capable of many things as a product, but could use some great
> Usability help.  I work for a SharePoint hosting company (www.fpweb.net)
> and we hear all the time how badly users need help with this
> application.  There are some great things people are doing with
> SharePoint sites though.  Take a look at the sample sites section on our
> web site:
> http://www.fpweb.net/sharepoint-hosting/sample-sites.asp
>
> I think this would be a great job for you to take and I'd love to be
> kept in the loop on any findings or suggestions from others.
>
>
> Thanks!
> Tom Brauch
>
> tel: 636.600.8956
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ulrik Gade
> Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 1:13 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: What's it like to be a Sharepoint usability consultant?
>
> Hi,
>
> Hope this request is OK for this forum (couldn't find much in the
> archives). Apologies if I transgress.
>
> I've been offered a usability position at a consultancy that
> specializes in delivering enterprise solutions based on the MS
> SharePoint Portal Server platform. Does anyone here have experience
> with the pros/cons of such a job from a usability/UX perspective?
>
> My own current thinking is as follows:
>
> - The focus of one's efforts will be more on functional/content
> requirements and IA than on interaction design since the latter comes
> pretty much prepackaged with the platform
>
> - There will be some lo-fi UI prototyping but there'll be a strong
> temptation to move ahead early into building the product, since this
> is what the tools of the platform lend themselves to
>
> - There will be a lot of mixing and matching pre-packaged
> functionality, at the cost of placing pretty severe practical
> constraints on more free-form interaction design
>
> - Page layout, navigation and visual design will be both driven and
> quite constrained by the templates of the platform
>
> - Usability testing will be a perennial hard sell to clients b/c
> they'll (mistakenly) expect MS to have already taken care of this, and
> since fixes to any problems inherent to the platform will anyway rely
> merely on hoping MS pushes them to the top of their stack
>
> - It will be very challenging to create IAs that won't unravel over
> time, as users start adding content etc to the solution; how does this
> play out with SharePoint?
>
> Lastly, I'd be interested if anyone has experience with the using the
> product's site usage statistics to inform evolutions of the solution:
> Are they any good and do you ever get to make use of them?
>
>
> Thanks in advance for your thoughts and/or references to more
> appropriate forums,
> Ulrik
>
>
>
> --
> Ulrik H. Gade
> User Experience Professional
> Skydebanegade 27, 4. th.
> DK-1709 Copenhagen V
> Denmark
> Landline: +45 3698 1823 (SkypeIn)
> Mobile: +45 4088 9884
> Skype: ulrik.h.gade
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/ulrikgade
>
> The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step
>
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-- 
Ulrik H. Gade
Skydebanegade 27, 4. th.
DK-1709 København V
Denmark
Landline: +45 3698 1823 (SkypeIn)
Mobile: +45 4088 9884
Skype: ulrik.h.gade
[log in to unmask]
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ulrikgade

The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step

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