Comments on: Assessing Weights for Users’ Needs, Part 1

By: Webdesign

Webdesign — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:35:39 +0000

Great comparisons! But I also like to know how to set the weight score?

Good article,
Mark

By: Dan's E-Marketing Guide >> Online Marketing Strategy >> e-marketing strategy

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:59:09 +0000

[...] Example Activities User centered design Keeping things simple Development and Release plans Design and development reviews Planning content [...]

By: Pleasure and Pain » Links from 8/4/2008 to 8/5/2008

Pleasure and Pain » Links from 8/4/2008 to 8/5/2008 — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:07:21 +0000

[...] Assessing Weights for Users’ Needs, Part 1 » UIE Brain SparksWeighted Differences Matrix quantifies the differences between multiple design alternatives [...]

By: Pleasure and Pain » Links from 8/1/2008 to 8/3/2008

Pleasure and Pain » Links from 8/1/2008 to 8/3/2008 — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:01:44 +0000

[...] Assessing Weights for Users’ Needs, Part 1 » UIE Brain SparksWeighted Differences Matrix quantifies the differences between multiple design alternatives [...]

By: Pleasure and Pain » Links from 7/24/2008 to 7/31/2008

Pleasure and Pain » Links from 7/24/2008 to 7/31/2008 — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:01:54 +0000

[...] Assessing Weights for Users’ Needs, Part 1 » UIE Brain SparksWeighted Differences Matrix quantifies the differences between multiple design alternatives [...]

By: nortypig » Blog Archive » Comparing Design Alternatives

nortypig » Blog Archive » Comparing Design Alternatives — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 06:27:23 +0000

[...] In each row of the matrix a number represents the difference between the design alternative. In Assessing Weights for Users’ Needs Part 1 and Part 2 he provides more information on how to develop a weighted differences [...]

By: Stefan Wobben

Stefan Wobben — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 12:25:07 +0000

How do you set the weight score? do you base this of observations, expert knowledge or selfreports of users?
Have you ever thought of using the ‘opportunity algorithm’ (Ulwick, A.W. (Jan 2002). “Turn Customer Input into Innovation”. Harvard Business Review.) to calculate your scores?

By: Jared Spool

Jared Spool — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:35:40 +0000

Hi Chris,

I’m not sure what you mean by “presented this to clients”?

We’ve used weighted matricies of various sorts — it’s a standard biz decision support tool — at clients hundreds of times. We’ve used this approach to describe differences between alternatives a couple of dozen times over the 20 years we’ve been in business.

We’ve also taught this technique to teams, so they could do it themselves.

In all the cases, the response has been very positive. It’s time intensive, so you have to set that expectation up front. But, the level of discourse and the value from the process makes itself visible very quickly.

Thanks for your question.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:40:47 +0000

Great idea!! Bridging the subjective into the objective is huge when trying to have usability discussions with clients around IA/UXD decision making/rationale. Now, if I can only find the time to develop an exhaustive list of differences for the matrix and then jam it into our design process… Thanks for the insight!

Curious to know how many times you’ve presented this to clients? What has the response been like?

By: Assessing Weights for Users’ Needs, Part 2 » UIE Brain Sparks

Assessing Weights for Users’ Needs, Part 2 » UIE Brain Sparks — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:30:12 +0000

[...] I talked about how we come up with each row in our Weighted Differences Matrix. For each of these differences, we need to then assess how important it will be to the user’s [...]