Editor’s note: This is a repost of an article originally published November 23, 2009 on MSearchGroove.com where Tego Interactive is a regular contributor. MSearchGroove is a premiere knowledge portal providing analysis and commentary on mobile search, mobile advertising, social media and all things digital at the intersection of content and context. Please visit the Tego Interactive Briefing Room on MSearchGroove for more.

Usability – and how shortcomings in device/software features and functionality are impacting the mobile space at all levels – was the focus last week. Around the world (and in Prague, where Tego Interactive is headquartered) professionals and practitioners came together at World Usability Day 2009 to exchange views and seek solutions to the fundamental usability issues that threaten to stunt market growth and stifle innovation, if we ignore the work to be done.

It’s a good news-bad news story. But, if we get it right, there is a happy ending.

The bad news: there are real problems ahead if we continue to think of usability as UI (interface) centered, and neglect the importance of delivering a UX (experience) that customers will appreciate.

The good news: participation in Prague World Usability Day 2009 has confirmed several of our own observations and provided some new insights into how mobile companies and developers can drive positive results for their businesses and deliver positive experiences to their users.

But before we get to some valuable suggestions and steps you can follow to develop in what Frog Design calls “the age of convergence,” allow me to explain what is different out there and why it’s time for a rethink.

WORLDS COMBINE

Our requirements for software and hardware haven’t changed all that much. The shift is in what we want to do/accomplish with all the stuff (software/services/devices) that is fast becoming an integral part of our daily routine.

Online and on mobile a lot of what we did was about accessing content. News, alerts, ringtones, images, music tracks – the works. Against this backdrop, most usability improvements focused on how to get to the content more easily (streamlining or personalizing portals, for examples) and methods to move content across platforms and devices.

Improving UI had a central spot in our strategies because it was enough to improve access. (Remember the rage over handsets that could buzz through our playlists if we waved them in the air?)

Fast forward to the present and we don’t just consume content; we create it, communicate it and want more control over the means of production. We want a good user experience from start to finish, and tweaking the UI alone won’t deliver it.

IT’S THE SYSTEM, STUPID

Put simply, people want to accomplish their objectives and the best app (the one with the best usability) is the one that understands this and makes it possible.

As Tjeerd Hoek from Frog Design put it during Prague World Usability Day: “It’s the SYSTEM that is the product.” It’s about software that binds it all.”

For example, a service or software that allows us to capture content on our mobile phones is no longer a crowd-pleaser. We want to leave our mark on all we do (through mix-ups and mash-ups with other content or software apps, for example); we want to keep it where we want (on the phone, on the PC, or a mix of both); and we want to share it freely (upload it to Facebook, post it on our mobile and online blogs, or broadcast it on Twitter). So, if we develop solutions that let people capture content we had better build in the flexibility to do a lot more with it!

Put another way, features are still important – but it’s the seamless fit between the software and our own personal objectives (productivity, flexibility, self-expression) that matters most.

NOT THE KITCHEN SINK

But don’t read this shift as a sign that your customers want all-singing, all-dancing systems/software that covers everything.

Consider the user push-back against mammoth software solutions from Microsoft and others designed from the ground-up to do it all. Connect the dots, and we no longer require a laundry-list of features and functionality. In fact, we will reject it flat out. Instead, we gravitate to the solutions that suit us best (allowing us to do what we want to do). In part, that’s why Windows 7 allows us the freedom to download the features we want.

That’s also why a company like Mariner Software can have phenomenal success with a “Long Tail” of word processing software programs tailored to the precise needs of a variety of different customers, ranging from poets to screenwriters.

The takeaway: In this space that which does everything does nothing.

SIMPLE (SIMPLY) DESIGN

So, what does this mean for how we develop software and systems now and moving forward?

We certainly can’t ignore the advance of touchscreen devices, the impact of the Apple App Store experience (resulting in a plethora of app stores from operators, handset makers and independents) and the explosion of the mobile Web. All this has come together this year to lay the groundwork for a brave, new active/interactive Internet.

Fixed or mobile? One Web or two? It doesn’t matter, really.

Everything comes together at the point of action – and this convergence must sit at the core of all we do/design/develop.

People do things with software and devices (a wide range of devices). The quality of an experience is therefore no longer a measure of how cool the interface is. Sure, it still plays a role, but usability stands and falls depending on how well developers can deliver exceptional usability at every step in the ‘app flow.’ (App flow is our internal term for the workflow that applications must enable. Remember, your customers are trying to do something.)

What do YOU need to do?

1) Tweak the UI but perfect the UX. It’s not about features and functionality that work well in isolation. Keep in mind what the user will want to accomplish with your software application and be sure that what you offer will cover that work flow.

2) Stick to the basics. More than ever, good usability is about making things easy to do. Keep it simple. And remember: if you have to tell the user how to do something, you’ve lost them (!)

3) Focus on the big picture. Software is the glue that holds it all together. Too much integration (old releases of Microsoft) and you lock people in (and they will vote with their feet). Too little integration and you have provided customers a one-trick pony that is hardly the way forward if you are serious about building business.

The takeaway: Allow people to do what they want to do and don’t overwhelm them with too many bells and whistles, and it’s all good.

Alfred DeRose is the Managing Director of Tego Interactive, a Web and mobile company specialized in integrated solutions for converged businesses determined to get more out of their digital assets.