Sep 19 - Nielsen, 25 Years in Usability (Alertbox)

25 Years in Usability

Summary: Since I started in 1983, the usability field has grown by 5,000%. It's a wonderful job — and still a promising career choice for new people.

Evolution: How Things Have Changed

The field's main difference today compared to when I started is size: it is much larger now. In 1983, usability was a narrow discipline pursued by a few people, largely confined to academia, phone companies (mainly Bell Labs), and a few pockets of enlightenment in the biggest computer companies.
When we met at conferences, we all knew each other. Although new people did join the field (as I did in '83), the new membership rate was about a handful per year. All told, there were maybe 1,000 usability people in the world (primarily in the U.S. and the U.K.).
Today, by my estimates, there might be as many as 50,000 full-time usability professionals in the world, supplemented by about half a million people with part-time usability responsibilities or interest.

Highlights of 1983

Usability basics haven't changed in 25 years. Methods for user testing were already well established by 1983 — the year that John Gould and Clayton Lewis presented a paper outlining 3 main principles for successful design:
* Establish an early focus on users and run field studies before starting any design work.
* Conduct empirical usability studies throughout development.
* Use an iterative design process.

These are the same 3 things we teach today as the most important usability steps. The main difference now is that Gould and Lewis talked about collecting quantitative measurements during their tests, whereas I've emphasized faster, qualitative studies for most projects since I started evangelizing "discount usability" in 1989.

In general, it's good for usability professionals to have experience with many generations of user interface technologies — this allows you to:
* Generalize the underlying issues in interaction design: when you see something every year for 25 years, you know there's some truth to it.
* Avoid being swayed by the surface appearance of the latest gizmo.

Personal Retrospective

I've been happy with my career choice. I've had a great time in every single one of these 25 years, with so many interesting studies and exciting findings.
Usability allows us to make everyday life more satisfying by empowering people to control their destiny and their technology...
...usability also strengthens business by making companies more profitable through increased sales and higher productivity.

Usability as a Career

If a young person today asked me whether usability is still a good career choice, I wouldn't hesitate to say yes. If anything, usability is a better career now than when I started.
In 1983, usability was an oppressed discipline. We few pioneers had to struggle against the prevailing attitude that computing is about power and features — not ease of use and a pleasurable user experience.
Today, usability is widely recognized as one of the key drivers of website profitability. Not a day passes without a big-shot CEO declaring support for better user experience.
...usability works — it adds vastly more value to design projects than it costs, and companies tend to add more and more usability over time as they experience this payoff in their own projects...

We have job security as long as there's stupid design in the world, and that's forever: every new technology that comes along will be abused.
Come join us. You'll have a great time. I certainly am, and will enjoy continuing to keep pace with this ever-growing field.

source:
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, April 21, 2008:
25 Years in Usability
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/25-years-usability.html
25 Years in Usability (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)