Usability Improvements in
Lotus cc:Mail for Windows
ABSTRACT
This is a case study about a commercial software design
and development process. The highly successful product contained some
usability problems that were apparent from a usability perspective, but
were to be delayed in the upcoming release. A Lotus Notes database was
used to record usability issues, UI design recommendations, and decision
rationale. This database was the key strategy that helped convince the
team to make changes. The processes and UI design solutions described are
not new; rather this design briefing focuses on how they were deployed to
effect change that wouldn't have happened otherwise. "Before"
and "After" screen shots illustrate this success story.
User Interface Design, User-Centered Design, Design Process, Usability
Engineering, Usability Testing, E-mail.
INTRODUCTION
When the first usability engineer joined Lotus
cc:Mail in the fall of 1993, the popular award-winning LAN e-mail product
had 6 million users. At the time of this writing, two years later, the
number is over 8 million. cc:Mail runs (or is being
developed) on Windows, Mac, OS/2 WPS, DOS, Unix
OPEN LOOK, Windows 95,
and the World
Wide Web. With such a significant installed base and multiple
platforms, any user interface change faces considerable coordination and
discussion.
This design briefing describes the usability efforts on the immediate
successor to Lotus cc:Mail for
Windows V2 that were directed towards improving its usability for
end-users.
The Usability and Design Team
The usability and UI design work described in this briefing was a
collaborative effort among two usability engineers, one UI designer, and
several developers, technical writers, and product managers. Quality
engineers and technical support also contributed to the process.
Until this point in time, cc:Mail had gathered considerable feedback from
its customers, but mainly from two types of customers: high-level decision
makers with purchasing authority for a corporate-wide e-mail system, and
cc:Mail LAN administrators. The usability group was formed to get in touch
with the end-users, and to improve and evolve the product from this
perspective.
Phases of the Design Process
This design briefing summarizes four overlapping phases of the design
process. Note that this is how the process actually happened, not how it
was originally intended.
The first phase is referred to as "The Next
Major Release" in this briefing. Design and development was
already in progress on this release by the time the usability lab was
constructed in early 1994. There was already a strong usability group at
Lotus headquarters, but the effort was new to the cc:Mail division until
this time. The second phase, "Usability
Testing", began in April, 1994. The third phase, "Usability Tracking", began in the summer
of 1994. A fourth phase, referred to internally as "The Food and Shelter Release", began in
the fall of 1994. Iterative UI design work was taking place throughout all
four of these overlapping phases, so is not explicitly called out. Some
"Before" and "After" screen shots are included to
demonstrate the kinds of usability improvements made.
Top of This Page (Beginning of Document)
Phase 1
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Phase 2
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Phase 3
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Phase 4
Results and Examples
Example 1
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Example 2
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Example 3
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Example 4
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Example 5
Conclusions
