We are running extra sessions of our showcase of the Usability Testing Service so even more colleagues to learn about the value of direct user engagement by taking part in a real session. Upcoming dates look at the current student experience of IT help self service (14 June) and the prospective student experience using the […]

Yesterday I ran a series of usability testing sessions that were observed by nearly 30 colleagues, most of whom are customers of our service. Some teams would want to do this in private, but not us! We’re happy to have our customers help us identify where we can improve. Plus, we’ve more usability sessions in […]

I was watching a presentation by Lean UX author, Jeff Gothelf, and a point he made about user-focused development – taking small steps, sensing and responding – really struck with me. So much so, I’ve written a bit of it up to share here.

Earlier this week I was supporting our CIO, Gavin McLachlan, as he ran a session on digital transformation for managers within Information Services. The presentation and mini-workshop went down very well, prompting lots of discussion and enthusiastic collaboration. Listening to Gavin’s message prompted me to pull together some thoughts and resources on the subject.

I’m introducing a new usability testing service for the University, for an initial trial period up to the end of July 2016. It will be an easy and convenient way to embed user insight into your development projects, and provide learning opportunities for anyone interested in trying the techniques out for themselves.

This year’s UCISA conference is being held in Manchester from 16 to 18 March. I’m contributing a ‘university showcase’ in which I’ll talk through how we use collaborative usability testing as part of our development processes.

Digital transformation is a popular term cropping up in many organisational strategies, including our own. But what’s it all about? I attended an excellent seminar last week that prompted me to reflect on my views on the subject.

Last week I spent a couple of days in London at the Agile Content conference. I was really keen to attend, as the conference focus seemed to be the issue that constantly challenges me in my role – how do we work together to build effective, user-focused content?

Last week, I spent three days on an intensive course to consolidate my knowledge on creating an effective user experience, and now hold the certificate of ‘Certified Professional in User Experience (Foundation level)’, or CPUX-F.

Last Saturday I contributed a session to Drupalcamp Scotland in which I talked about the challenges of, and my approach to, integrating usability testing into an agile development process.