HomeMy WebLinkAbout052826 Follow-up from Tuesday’s Community Meeting Re_ Ticketing & Reservations Modernization ProjectALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Dear Assistant Secretary Vezina,
Thank you for addressing my questions at Tuesday’s Noon Community Meeting regarding the canceled contract with Anchor Operations and Reservations Tech Systems for WSF's Ticketing and
Reservations Modernization Project (TRM). I look forward to seeing the final report on that contract in terms of total dollars spent (internally and externally) and lessons learned.
I reviewed Stellar Associate’s March 18 “Lessons Learned Report” <https://waocio.my.salesforce.com/sfc/p/#U0000000YQQt/a/UW000009CwmD/umeGg5j6zc.aHXWwI3cgrq3mkEQicBExM21oWtoqP4I> (from:
WAOCIO Project Dashboard) and found it to be quite insightful and I think will be helpful as you move forward with the new procurement, design, and development process.
On Tuesday, when you mentioned the lack of user testing during that contract, you again indicated that the plan was only for user testing at a late stage in the project’s development.
I know I’ve brought this up before, but I feel it’s my professional and community-oriented obligation to address it once again. User testing, with even a relatively small set of “naïve”
end users (both “regular" & commercial users), is best begun during the early design phase of any software project using techniques like paper prototypes <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_prototy
ping> (Wikipedia). There are a number of reasons for this, among them:
* “Primitive” designs, such as paper-based wireframes, encourage users to be more direct and expansive in their critiques, as they do not fear that they are wasting someone else’s significant
effort.
* The very fact that such designs are primitive better signal to end users that their input is needed.
* Inviting end users (including SJs terminal staff) in early in the process enhances community buy-in.
* Internal testing, while important, will typically engage younger, more technically adept people who are unconsciously biased toward WSF.
* Having the best key designs in place early ensures that development time is most efficient, saving time, money, and aggravation.
These methods are well researched and tested in the software world and are used by software companies large and small because people deep in a project such as this simply don’t have
the same perspectives, mental models, or capabilities as their customers.
Thank you for your consideration of this process as we all have the same goal: a fantastic new system with a positive rollout!
David
David F. W. Robison, MLIS
he/him
San Juan Island
mobile: +1 206.228.2487
email: david@robison.net <mailto:david@robison.net>
radio: KJ7KJC
Compassion is not zero-sum