Michael DeVries

Sr. User Experience Researcher and Analyst
| Portfolio Highlights
 | Heuristic Evaluations
 | Measuring Experience | Leading UX | Usability Testing
Current Sprint Plan Builder Access Point
 Heuristic Evaluation of the User Experiences of a Wireless Phone Plan Builder

Overview

The last time you went to your wireless carrier's web site to change your phone and plan, you were very likely met with choice overload phone/plan interaction complexities. During my early years with Sprint.com, we looked at how to make this easier, and explored the possibilities of allowing the user to create their own plan. The goal of the project was to explore the concepts and user experiences.


Research Design

The main research activities included:
Current Sprint Plan Builder Access Point

  • Review the proposal to identify core user experience needs that are present or are missing
  • Review business objectives against the design to understand user experience needs
  • Recommend changes to functionality, experiences, and concept layout
Questions and measures also included:
  • Question: Are the business objectives presented in user-centric functionality?
  • Question: Is the general design expected to meet user expectations? If not, what is missing?
  • Measure: Potential usability issue severity and impact against the business objectives


Accomplishments

By looking at the product concept before it was built, several primary advantages and potential user experiences issues were identified. Recommendations concerning the general concept, necessary additional functions, and layout were provided. The final report provided a more focused business definition, refined functional requirements, and guidance towards a greater focus on the user experience. The evaluation strove to identify not only the problems, but the factors the user experiences that would be needed in order to make the project successful. A few observations included:
  • The results page (not shown here) does not adequately make a comparison between the plan that the user defines and other plans that might actually be better due to interactions between plans and attached services.
  • Progressive disclosure of information relevant to building their plan, rather than presenting all of the information at once, will assist in increasing efficiency for both expert and novice users.
  • Brand names for plans (e.g., PCS Vision) will require further investigation, increasing time to complete task and adding the potential for confusion/frustration.

Building on That

Part of updating your Sprint plan The image in the upper left is actually part of the the entry point into what Sprint offers for reviewing your current plan. The access is provided when you log into your Sprint account. When you continue through the "change my plan" sequence, you discover the image on the right as part of the UI. This instance, and others within the Sprint site (at least as of January 2010) were built on principles that came from my original evaluation. Sometimes, it's good to keep those project notes, eh?


Skills
  • Developing relationships between user experience and business requirements
  • Heuristic evaluation
  • Building on designs by providing additional user experience recommendations

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Copyright 2010 Michael DeVries