Usability is a challenging topic and there are outstanding, capable professionals in the field (See my post on renowned usability expert J. Nielsen here:  https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2022/09/renowned-usability-expert.html. See also my other posts on usability by selecting the usability tag). Usability is an important issue for users of applications, mobile devices, and systems. There are numerous online petitions to improve user interfaces or make the applications/devices/systems easy to use. A recent example is: https://www.change.org/p/revise-discord-s-latest-user-interface-for-improved-user-experience?source_location=search. The petition calls for a revision to the user interface. Another recent example is a requested change to the color scheme used in Google Maps to make it colorblind-friendly: https://www.change.org/p/urge-google-to-revert-the-color-changes-in-maps?source_location=search. Yet another protest example is a call for changes to smartphone specifications to make them easier to handle: https://www.change.org/p/we-need-compact-smartphones. I also recall a case where an application’s architecture was responsible for a solution where there was an additional step to create an important item. An item had to be opened and saved with only some information before it could be opened again for completion. There was dissatisfaction with the solution. Usability professionals make changes that cause satisfaction with the way an application, device or system functions or works. Usability may not be the best fit for me but it is rewarding.

In a previous post, I stated that:

“One of the ideas/thoughts I am proud of is the connection I made between utils and usability (https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2022/10/utils-and-usability.html). Usability could be used to better understand/model utils.”

I made the connection after reviewing a journal article on a tag-based interface for a banking application (https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2022/09/tags-and-usability.html). The researchers found that the usability of the tag-based interface would be higher/better than the usability of the current, conventional interface. It got me thinking of the different satisfaction associated with such applications.

I am very interested in how usability is used for decision-making. At one organization, I assisted with setup and other activities for users to evaluate options so that the organization would select the best one. That was essentially a usability study.

I also reviewed studies that showed how usability testing could be used to make decisions on devices selected for use by children, whether or not to continue a service such as medical video visits during COVID, and so on. I am especially interested in the use of usability testing when designing and developing dashboards (an example study: https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2022/09/dashboard-design-and-usability.html).

I like that usability for decision-making combines ideas from information technology, economics, and marketing, and involves design, requirements, and even data analysis. It is multidisciplinary just like me.

Note that I have talent/skill in other areas such as modeling and diagramming, including domain modeling (see: fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2022/06/diagramming.html and  https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2022/07/change.html, https://fahmeenaodetta.blogspot.com/2023/04/interesting-projects.html), systems/business analysis, designing research studies, technical writing, and training.