M6: what are heuristics

Heuristics in Software Quality Measurement

  • Definition of Heuristics

    • Heuristics are rules that can be followed to achieve best practices.
    • They are useful for measuring the quality of software.

  • Heuristic Evaluation

    • A method used to assess whether software adheres to user experience best practices.
    • Not a substitute for user research, but provides convenience:
    • Can be performed independently, at one’s own time and pace.

Key Figures and Their Heuristics

Alan Cooper

  • Cooper's Book: "The Inmates are Running the Asylum"
    • Introduces heuristics that aim to reduce friction between humans and machines.
    • He characterizes software with humane traits, essential for enhancing user experience.
    • Characteristic of Politeness:
      • Shared across cultures, involves software behaving like attentive service staff in a high-quality restaurant.
    • Four Politeness Traits of Software:
    • Interest: Software should demonstrate a genuine interest in the user.
    • Forthcoming: Information should be provided proactively.
    • Self-confidence: Software should portray confidence in its functionalities.
    • Common Sense: Software should apply logical reasoning in its operations.

Jakob Nielsen

  • Nielsen's Heuristics
    • First published in 1994 and remain relevant today.
    • Four Notable Heuristics:
    • Visibility of System Status: Users should always be informed about what is happening through appropriate feedback.
    • Match Between System and Real World: Software should speak the users' language, with familiar concepts and terms.
    • Freedom and Control: Users often want to feel in control of the software, allowing them to feel comfortable navigating.
    • Recognition Rather Than Recall: Minimize user memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible.

Steve Krug

  • Krug's Book: "Don't Make Me Think"
    • Centers on user convenience and maintaining goodwill through intuitive design.
    • Two Key Heuristics:
    • Don't Force Me To Do It Your Way: Users should have choices rather than being forced into a specific workflow.
    • Save Me Steps Wherever Possible: Reducing the number of steps users must take enhances their experience.

The Concept of Goodwill

  • Users arrive at a website or software with an initial "reservoir of goodwill".
  • As issues arise, this goodwill diminishes.
  • Implementing Krug's heuristics can help maintain and restore this goodwill during user interactions.

Conducting a Heuristic Evaluation

  • General Guidelines
    • No strict rules or format for conducting evaluations.
    • Simple Spreadsheet Approach
    • Structure:
      • Left Column: List of heuristics.
      • Middle Column: Score (out of 5) assessing performance against heuristics.
    • Scoring:
      • More of a guideline than a definitive measure. Focus on effectiveness rather than numerical score.
    • Descriptive Analysis:
      • Identify where software fails to meet heuristic standards and suggest improvements.
    • Documentation:
      • Accompany the spreadsheet with screenshots or videos to illustrate issues.
      • Focus on analysis over format; quality of insights is paramount.