It's time to set the date for the next UUX Virtual Book Club meeting, which will be a discussion of Steve Krug's recent book, "Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems".

I think this is a great book to start the new year. Because it's easy to read and full of concrete suggestions for the new UUX practitioner, it can help motivate those of us who've been wanting to test the Usability waters. More experienced practitioners can provide feedback about Steve Krug's suggestions and fill in any areas they think could use some elaboration. I hope we can schedule a day and time that allows lots of participation.

We have two possible dates: Tues, Feb. 16 or Wed, Feb. 24. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for the following time.

PST/PDT (US): 4-5 pm | CST/CDT (US): 6-7 pm | EST/EDT (US): 7-8 pm | UK: 12-1 am

However, if this time is a problem for those who want to attend, we might be able to move it one or two hours earlier. To make the scheduling as simple as possible, we'll do it in stages by setting the date first with this quick interest form. If necessary, I'll do another poll to select the time.

You have until Mon., Jan. 25 to vote on the date. Then I'll schedule a quick vote on meeting time and send out the sign-up notice.

"MENTAL MODELS"
In case you're interested in the discussion of Indi Young's "Mental Models" but don't have time to listen to the recording, below are some brief comments from two attendees at the last Book Club meeting. They highly recommend the book (and method) and think it would be useful reading for all areas of Technical Communication, but they split on the level of experience at which a UUX practitioner would find the method useful. Let us know if these comments are helpful. For more in-depth information about the book, see a review by Mary Deaton, the meeting moderator and 2009 UUX SIG Manager, in Usability Interface, August 2009.

1. Is Indi’s method very different from those you use?
"It's not so much different as it is tangible"
2. Could her methods be adapted to your work?
"Yes. The mental model diagram adds structure to what I’m already doing and will help me to explain to my clients what's in my head."
"Absolutely yes. Especially when going through the data analysis from field visits."
3. Do you think Indi’s method is most useful for a specific type of UUX, or does it apply to any type of UUX activity?
"Her method is clearly the first step in any effort."
"I work with software for enterprise and consumers and Indi's method would apply to both of these areas."
4. Do you think Indi’s method and/or the book are more suitable for any particular level of experience with UUX?
"Experienced practitioners"
"Both new and experienced practitioners"
5. Would you recommend the book for any other area of technical communication?
"Yes. All areas of Technical Communication should have at least this component of UUX as part of their discipline."
6. Book or methods strengths:
"The method creates structure, especially with the templates that are provided, and transforms the "art" of what we do into a "science" that will help us to garner support for basing design on actual user needs."
"Very specific steps for data analysis and a good framework for capturing the results."
7. Book or methods weaknesses:
"Overwhelming detail; off-putting for clients - we must shelter the client from that."
"It could be potentially time-consuming which might make some product teams reluctant to try it."
8. Your overall rating of the book (1—low to 5—high).
"4", "5"
9. Other comments?
"Indi's book should be required reading for every technical communicator."
"I work in an Agile software development environment. If I had to choose between creating a mental model for the team or a persona, I'd choose creating the mental model for two reasons. First, the output from the mental model directly ties users' goals and tasks to features being built and building features is the primary focus in Agile organizations. Second, the mental models can act as the basis for the personas - that is, it doesn't seem to require very much effort to go from a mental model to personas. If the product team ran out of time during the upfront research phase and didn't get to the personas, I think we would still get a pretty good product with just the mental model and lots of usability testing of prototypes."

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
Contact Kathleen MacDowell
Coordinator, UUX Virtual Book Club
kathleen@writefortheuser.com