Don't Fight Over Your Home Page

Most organisations spend most of their design time focusing on the homepage, often in tense negotiations with different departments, each jockeying for prominent positions in the global navigation. There’s more politics here than the appointment of a Fianna Fail junior minister.

Veale, Laurence. IQcontent (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Workplace

Effective Websites: The Responsibility of the Whole Organisation

Building an effective website is often seen exclusively as the job of the web team, and viewed as a design or technical issue. However, having worked with many different organisations, we would argue that often what stops them improving their website is the organisation itself. Developing an effective website often requires organisational change: it requires a culture where people at all levels in the organisation adopt behaviours that make a ‘good user experience’ an important goal. If the organisation is not focused on providing a good user experience, then the web team will be unable to build an effective website.

Burton-Taylor, Sarah. Usability News (2006). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Workplace

Persuading People via Computer-Based Narratives  

Computer technology opens new doors for researching, creating, and distributing WIN (interactivity and narrative) experiences. Increased insight in this area could create a potential to change people’s attitudes and behaviors in ways never before possible. For example, in researching WIN experiences, our online system can now test stories to identify which stories have an impact on specific types of people. Alternately in creating WIN experiences, a computer could glean information from an interaction in order to select a specific story from a large database of proven stories. From a distribution standpoint, WIN experiences could be delivered through mobile handsets, increasing reach beyond the desktop. The potential for impact is significant. Computer-supported WIN experiences could lead to large-scale interventions to improve health, enhance learning and training, boost workplace performance, and motivate participation in civic life.

Fogg, B.J., Angela Booker and Abbe Don. Stanford University (2004). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Workplace>Persuasive Design

Placing Value on User Assistance

User assistance writers are often the Rodney Dangerfields of the UX world, bemoaning the fact that we don’t get any respect. I think the real problem is that user assistance folks are not particularly good at communicating the ways in which we add value to an enterprise. This column explores two models that show how user assistance adds value and how we can communicate that value to those who pay our salaries—something I would like to encourage other user assistance writers to do.

Hughes, Michael A. UXmatters (2008). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Workplace

The User Experience of Enterprise Software Matters

Over the past twenty years, the field of user experience has been fortunate. Software and hardware product organizations increasingly have adopted user-centered design methods such as contextual user research, usability testing, and iterative interaction design. In large part, this has occurred because the market has demanded it. More than ever, good interaction design and high usability are part of the price of entry to markets.

Sherman, Paul J. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Experience>Software>Workplace

XML and its Emerging Uses Within the Enterprise

In 2000, as one of the first speakers at XML One, Rod discussed the merging of the web, XML, and messaging into the loosely coupled applications that today we call web services. Rod's Emerging Internet Technology team has continued to explore new uses for XML beyond SOA for enterprises. His talk will cover how XML is a cornerstone for new types of web applications - Do It yourself applications - which include applications through dynamic scripting languages and the intersection with other emerging areas such as Rich Interactive Applications.

Smith, Rod. IDEAlliance (2004). Articles>Content Management>XML>Workplace

Selling UX

At some point in your career, you’ll be called upon to sell UX to someone in your organization. You’ve probably already done it. Perhaps you’ll need to justify what you do in an organization or industry that’s just beginning to adopt UX methods or sell UX to secure your position within an organization or get future projects. So, what do you need to know to help you sell UX? What challenges might you face? This article examines what works and what does not work well when selling UX within an organization, identifies barriers you might encounter to the adoption of UX methods in your organization, and discusses how to package and present UX to stakeholders.

Szuc, Daniel, Paul J. Sherman and John S. Rhodes. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Experience>Workplace

Evangelizing UX Across An Entire Organization

Executive buy-in is important, but communicating and selling the UX message across the organization, at all levels, is just as important. I would be most interested in learning more about the corporate cultures that embrace UX or customer-centered thinking and understanding more about why they have and what makes them ripe. What worked in the organizations you’ve worked for? What caused frustrations? It seems when everyone is trying to improve the user experience, it can help empower a usability / UX / design team to work on more strategic initiatives instead of facing roadblocks along the way.

Six, Janet M. UXmatters (2009). Articles>User Experience>Workplace

Should You Cater to Younger Workers?

If you cater to the younger group, you risk alienating your most senior people (talented, expensive, hard-to-replace experts; people you don't want to lose to the competition; people with great political capital in the organization, who can perhaps defeat an IT initiative by pushing back hard). On the other hand, if you cater to the older group, you risk alienating the younger workers; and you risk keeping obsolete systems in place far longer than you should, making future replacement that much more difficult while also impeding business objectives, etc.

assertTrue (2009). Articles>Content Management>User Centered Design>Workplace

Navigating the International Virtual Workplace: Strategies for Smooth Sailing in Global Communication    

Focusing mainly on cultural factors, linguistic factors, technical factors, and legal factors, Thakur discusses best practices for becoming globally savvy in an increasingly globalized work environment.

Thakur, Priti. Intercom (2009). Articles>Workplace>International

Unmanaging Knowledge - How to Tell the Boss to Back Off

You’ve got a pretty good boss, yet he or she still heeds the traditional creed of command and control. But it doesn’t work for you. You’re engaged in knowledge work and you’d like to tell the boss to back off. What do you do? Explain it to the boss first chance you get. Here’s a good way to do it.

Ehin, Charles. Smart People (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Workplace

Old Media, Technical Writers, and the Evolution of Documentation

Technical writers are an important and underutilized asset to most businesses; however, I also believe that technical writers have to fundamentally alter the way they approach the problem of educating users and helping them find the answers they need before they will be properly valued by the businesses that employ them.

LugIron Software Blog (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Workplace

Integrating Social Media Into Existing Work Environments: The Case of Delicious    

This article offers an example case of technical communicators integrating the social bookmarking site Delicious into existing work environments. Using activity theory to present conceptual foundations and concrete steps for integrating the functionalities of social media, the article builds on research within technical communication that argues for professional communicators to participate more fully in the design of communication systems and software. By examining the use of add-ons and tools created for Delicious, and the customized use of Rich Site Syndication (RSS) feeds that the site publishes, the author argues for addressing the context-sensitive needs of project teams by integrating the functionality of social media applications generally and repurposing their user-generated data.

Stolley, Karl. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2009). Articles>Workplace>Collaboration>Social Networking

Breaking the Chain of Command: Making Sense of Employee Circumvention    

This study explores how employees accounted for their engagement in circumvention (i.e., dissenting by going around or above one's supervisor). Employees completed a survey instrument in which they provided a dissent account detailing a time when they chose to practice circumvention. Results indicated that employees accounted for circumvention through supervisor inaction, supervisor performance, and supervisor indiscretion. In addition, findings revealed how employees framed circumvention in ways that enhanced the severity and principled nature of the issues about which they chose to dissent.

Kassing, Jeffrey W. JBC (2009). Articles>Management>Workplace>Ethnographies

Exploring Negative Group Dynamics: Adversarial Network, Personality, and Performance in Project Groups    

Most previous social network studies have focused on the positive aspects of social relationships. In contrast, this research examined how the negative aspects of social networks in work groups can influence individual performance within the group. Accordingly, two studies were conducted to make this assessment. The first study examined the effect of negative relations and frequency of communication on performance among student groups. The second study investigated how the Five Factor Model of personality and position in adversarial networks interacted to influence individuals' performance. Although results of the first study indicated that frequent communication with others could make a person more likeable, consequently helping him or her perform better, the second study showed that those individuals disliked by others were less likely to achieve a good performance rating, despite their conscientiousness, emotional stability, or openness to experiences.

Xia, Ling, Y. Connie Yuan and Geri Gay. Management Communication Quarterly (2009). Articles>Collaboration>Workplace

Creativity in the Workplace

Most people consider writing to be a creative endeavor, and in some situations, it certainly is. But creativity is not just associated with writing, art, and the humanities. Penelope Trunk broadens creativity to include problem solving too.

Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Writing>Advice>Workplace

Effective UX in a Corporate Environment, Part II

In this column, which is the second of two parts, we’ll continue discussing how companies can ensure the effectiveness of User Experience within their organizations and current product development processes.

Six, Janet M. and Chris Anthony. UXmatters (2009). Articles>User Experience>Workplace>Workflow

Effective UX in a Corporate Environment, Part I

To foster discussion about the issues companies face in trying to effectively integrate user experience into their current organizations and processes, we surveyed our panel of Ask UXmatters experts, asking them to give us their thoughts on these important issues.

Six, Janet M. and Chris Anthony. UXmatters (2009). Articles>User Experience>Workplace>Workflow

Technical Communication in R & D Laboratories: The Impact of Project Work Characteristics    

Based on an information processing approach to organizations, this paper argues that product effectiveness is contingent on the match between the project's communication patterns and the nature of its work.

Tushman, Michael L. Academy of Management Journal, The (1978). Articles>TC>Research>Workplace

Organizational Demography: The Differential Effects of Age and Tenure Distributions on Technical Communication    

Although previous researchers have proposed organizational demography as an important determinant of communication, no one has tested this relationship directly.

Zenger, Todd R. and Barbara S. Lawrence. Academy of Management Journal, The (1989). Articles>TC>Workplace>Organizational Communication

The Most Annoying, Overused Words in the Workplace  

"Leverage," "interface," and "circle back" are among the most annoying and overused terms in work settings today, according to a new survey of executives.

Musbach, Tom. Yahoo (2009). Articles>Language>Workplace>Rhetoric

Don't Stop Learning!

This article examines the need for continuous learning and the challenges that working professionals must overcome to invest in learning. It also explores how experience makes us better learners, and analyzes the relative effectiveness of various learning techniques.

Dhanagopal, Kumar. Indus (2009). Articles>Education>Workplace

Organizational Culture 101: A Practical How-To For Interaction Designers

It’s happened to all of us. We walk into what we think is a Web redesign project, only to find we have unwittingly ignited the fires of WW III in our client’s organization. What begins as a simple design project descends – quickly – into an intra-organizational battle, with the unprepared interaction designer caught in the crossfire. What is it about design projects that seem to attract such power struggles? Contrary to what you might think, being stuck in the middle of an internecine battle is actually an opportunity to effect meaningful change on your client’s organization. But it requires a set of practical tools to negotiate these battles and a more sophisticated language and knowledge to exploit these events to create meaningful change.

Ladner, Sam. Johnny Holland (2009). Articles>Project Management>Interaction Design>Workplace

Technical Communications as a Profit Center

Those within technical communications have long argued that product documentation provides significant value in terms of a customer satisfaction and downstream savings in customer support and service. In the broader, enterprise perspective, however, documentation is generally viewed as simply one of many requirements for product launch. This perspective is often the result of the lack of visibility that is generally available into the business value contributed by product documentation. Aberdeen investigated and isolated the quantifiable business impact of technical communications makes for 165 participating companies. An analysis of this data indicates that when leveraged effectively, technical communications stands to contribute as much as a 42% increase in customer satisfaction and an associated 45% increase in product revenue. This report provides a quantified framework for understanding the potential impact on technical communications makes for business profitability as well as the best practices to adopt to drive greater value from this organization.

David Houlihan. Aberdeen Group (2009). Articles>Documentation>Workplace>Technical Writing

Designing Collaborative Learning Spaces: Where Material Culture Meets Mobile Writing Processes  

In May 2007, the Department of English at Utah State University (USU) redesigned its computer lab to increase mobility and collaboration during writing projects. Our study shows that despite the Professional and Technical Communication (PTC) field's efforts to promote writing as a socially active, collaborative practice, many students view computer labs as spaces for conducting isolated, single-authored work. In this article, we discuss how a combination of movable furniture and mobile technology, including wireless access and laptops, can enhance student collaboration in group-based writing assignments. The lab included both desktop and laptop seating areas, so the authors created a modified worksite analysis designed to evaluate team collaboration in this new layout. These material changes in the lab allow students to configure the space according to their needs, offering them some measure of control over three crucial elements of successful collaboration: formality, presence, and confidentiality.

Bemer, Amanda Metz, Ryan M. Moeller and Cheryl E. Ball. Programmatic Perspectives (2009). Articles>Education>Collaboration>Workplace