Recently, I have been revisiting theories that I haven’t really engaged with since college. Today is Nielsen’s theories on Web Usability, or usability in general.
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/
On re-reading the 101 on usability, I noticed the discussion on usability for intranets and I would take this to encompass all systems that are used at work.
The stance of Nielsen is that improved usability on work systems, for example intranets, leads to improved productivity, because more time is spent doing work and less time finding the tools or information required to do it.
I would like to add that a usable system is actual important for health and safety, but in a less obvious manner than say something mission critical, like the self-destruct button at a nuclear power station. I would argue that Usability has a significant impact upon well-being and mental health, or at least, poor usability has a significant impact upon mental health and could contribute to staff absences – so if we must focus on the bottom line, rather than well-being, then there is the rationale for ensuring that systems are useful and usable.
First hand experience.
My biggest bug-bear is that at work, often systems are not centralised enough and that there’s a considerable amount of effort wasted on finding where a system is, or even, upon which system the function can be found or the task be completed. And that is before we even face the usability of the actual system; this is essentially where Nielsen was coming from and does indeed relate to productivity.
To be continued…