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As I think about my career in User Experience and Design, much of it has unfolded in an organic way rather than following a detailed career plan. I have always kept my eyes open for the next engaging and interesting career opportunity that would offer a challenge and something new, but never had a prescribed notion of what each step would be. As I sat in my last role as a director of user experience, I did not have focused ambitions of joining the executive ranks. I never ruled it out, but it was not by mission—then opportunity came knocking. Approached by an executive recruiter regarding a vice president position at a well established and growing company with interesting technology …

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Abstract In this paper we present an adapted usability evaluation framework to the context of a mobile computing environment. Using this framework, we conducted a qualitative meta-analytical review of more than 100 empirical mobile usability studies. The results of the qualitative review include (a) the contextual factors studied; (b) the core and peripheral usability dimensions measured; and (c) key findings in the form of a research agenda for future mobile usability research, including open and unstructured tasks are underutilized, interaction effects between interactivity and complexity warrant further investigation, increasing research on accessibility may improve the usability of products and services for often overlooked audiences, studying novel technology and environmental factors will deepen contextual mobile usability knowledge, understanding which hedonic factors …

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Abstract Beginning in 2008, the author’s IT department started looking at Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) products as an alternative to custom developed applications. Over the next two years, the company would transition from a “build” to “buy” philosophy, and it would be necessary to evolve the role of usability specialists to help incorporate user-centered design practices into both COTS evaluations and implementations. This case study describes how the author contributed to an enterprise-wide implementation of Microsoft SharePoint, as well as some of the challenges faced and lessons learned. It also suggests other ways that usability specialists can participate in COTS implementations. Practitioner’s Take Away For usability practitioners whose organizations are increasingly considering COTS product purchases, this author recommends the following: Getting …

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I have the luxury of working for a mature user experience (UX) organization. One of the benefits of working for such an organization is that we get to tackle a range of challenges not all organizations have the bandwidth to attack. In my case, the challenge was posed by my boss who asked, “I need you to figure out how to align with our sales force.” I returned his request with a question, “I help develop product. I don’t know a thing about selling it. Why is this a good idea?” His response was, “Our sales organization could benefit greatly by understanding how to position UX with customers, but they don’t have a clue how to do it.” I figured …

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