Data - Tiny Word - BIG Impact

Data - Tiny Word - BIG Impact

At The BA Zone we like to stress the importance of user-centered design. Today, I'd like to focus on data - a tiny word - that can have significant impact on all aspects of an organization, such as:  architecture, database and software design, reporting, marketing, sales, processing, compliance, and a host of other areas, all of which can lead to success or failure.

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Deliverables: What Are Comps?

Deliverables: What Are Comps?

At some point in your career, you're going to hear the word “comp” thrown around and during that conversation many people will have this question in their head - what are comps?

You may also hear someone mention "mockups" and in most cases they are referring to comps, but some people call low-to-medium fidelity comps mockups.

But not you, because you're here and you're reading this, so you will actually understand being talked about. Congratulations!

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Stakeholder Analysis and the Vampires Among Us - Part 2

Stakeholder Analysis and the Vampires Among Us - Part 2

In my previous blog post, Stakeholder Analysis and the Vampires Among Us - Part 1, we focused on Key Stakeholders. In this post we'll hone in on the Primary Stakeholders, keeping in mind that Primary Stakeholders can also be Key Stakeholders.

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Deliverables: What Are Wireframes?

Deliverables: What Are Wireframes?

Wireframing is the first step in the UI design process - low fidelity visual representations of a web page or application interface. They are generally black and white line drawings, a combination of blocks and squiggles, with maybe some gray shading but no other colors. Stay focused on layout and high-level interactions and concepts like navigation and flow. UI elements and content can be represented as boxes or lines, with or without label descriptions.

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Stakeholder Analysis and The Vampires Among Us - Part 1

Stakeholder Analysis and The Vampires Among Us - Part 1

A stakeholder is, basically, a person or entity that will be impacted in some way by a proposed change. Stakeholders can represent departments, teams, organizations, customers or an individual.

Vampires?  Well, given the opportunity, they'll suck the life out of you.  

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Deliverables: Workflows vs Task Flows vs Process Flows

Deliverables: Workflows vs Task Flows vs Process Flows

Creating and reviewing these flows helps to highlight redundancies, delays, dead ends, error handling, and alternate/indirect paths that would otherwise remain unnoticed or ignored. 

These are not "once and done" documents, they are very much "living documents" that you will return to again and again to validate ideas and plans, update as things changes, and pass along to other departments for their planning, documentation, and training. 

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