Walking a Mile in Your Users' Shoes

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Walking a Mile in Your Users’ Shoes Jameson Hampton

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@jameybash

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2 Traits of Programmers @jameybash

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A 3rd Trait for Programmers @jameybash

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What does it mean to work in tech?

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Everyone needs applications! ● Advertising ● Finance / Banking ● Health care ● Education ● Non-profits ● Agriculture This is a PERK of our industry @jameybash

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But why does industry matter?

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@jameybash Gender User Demographics: Stack Overflow

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@jameybash Race & Ethnicity User Demographics: Stack Overflow

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User Demographics: Stack Overflow @jameybash Age

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@jameybash Parents’ Education Level User Demographics: Stack Overflow

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Observations on those demographics… ● They might kind of look… like us. ● When we build applications, we think about what would feel intuitive. ● If a developer works for Stack Overflow, and their application feels intuitive to them, maybe it’s pretty safe to guess that it will be intuitive to most their users too. @jameybash

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@jameybash User Demographics: Census of Agriculture

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User Demographics: Census of Agriculture @jameybash

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User Demographics: Census of Agriculture @jameybash

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User Demographics: Census of Agriculture @jameybash

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@jameybash

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Case Study #1: MediCapt

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MediCapt: “Transforming the documentation and prosecution of sexual violence” @jameybash

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Challenges I Expected To Face ● Privacy concerns: ○ Implemented custom PIN system; no storing images on camera roll ● Chain of custody ○ Digital “paper trail” of everyone who accessed files ● Lack of wifi ○ Planned a NoSQL solution to rely on eventual consistency @jameybash

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Then I actually went to DRC… …and it completely changed how I was thinking about the project @jameybash

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Challenges I *Actually* Faced ● Lack of resources, more than just wifi ● Inexperienced user base ● Language barriers ● Lack of tech support ● Trust issues @jameybash

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Non-standard solutions to non-standard problems ● A lot of market research & highly specialized equipment ● Being willing to build stuff from scratch ● A completely different kind of UI than what we’re used to @jameybash

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Case Study #2: Agrilyst

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Agrilyst: Your Virtual Agronomist @jameybash

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Site Visits! @jameybash

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Language: i18n ¿”Agrilyst” en español? ● English ● Spanish ● French ● Arabic @jameybash

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Layout/UI: Calendar View ● What is user friendliness? ● Something simple & intuitive to use ● Relies on existing familiarity! @jameybash

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Mobile App ● You could make the most perfect application in all the world, but if it’s not available for the device that your users actually use, it is worthless to them. @jameybash

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Features: ”Plant Sites” @jameybash

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Case Study #3(ish): Accessibility

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@jameybash

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Screen Readers ● Alt text for photos ● Photos/screencaps of text ● Unicode “fonts”/excessive emoji @jameybash

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Use of color in design @jameybash

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Takeaway: Lessons in Empathy

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Cultivating empathy for your users is essential for creating an app that actually works for them @jameybash

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Predicting what people’s pain points will be is hard – and developers are bad at it @jameybash

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Make sure you’re solving the right problems by meeting your users and getting a feel for what it’s like to be them @jameybash

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Simple, clever solutions can often be just as valuable as highly technical solutions @jameybash

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Fostering empathy will improve your applications — and it will improve the world! @jameybash