SYSTEM CONCEPTS NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2001 News and insight from System Concepts Ltd, the UK's foremost consultancy in ergonomics and human factors. ______________________________________________________ ________ In this month's newsletter: >REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2001 This was a significant year for System Concepts. We have grown steadily throughout the last twelve months and been busier than we have ever been before. >BENEFITS OF OFFICE ERGONOMICS Buying ergonomic office furniture and equipment can be a costly business. It can be hard for companies to see the financial benefit of supplying their staff with (for example) good chairs, ergonomic keyboards or proper foot rests. >USABILITY TESTING: COLLECTING QUANTITATIVE DATA Unlike many usability tests that aim to collect qualitative usability data, our client needed harder, quantitative data on which he could base some important business decisions. This meant testing 48 participants - eight times the number commonly used in usability testing. >THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG? It has recently been estimated by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) that there are over 150,000 people each year suffering symptoms of repetitive strain injury (RSI) or work related upper limb disorder (WRULD) in the UK. ______________________________________________________ ________ >REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2001 This was a significant year for System Concepts. We have grown steadily throughout the last twelve months and been busier than we have ever been before. It was brought home to me by the arrangements for our Christmas celebration dinner. Last year there were about sixteen staff attending (or at least there should have been but we were hit by illnesses and accidents ranging from flu to broken legs which stopped us fielding the whole team). This year we are expecting about twenty three of us to sit down (with partners) making quite a crowd. In fact, 2001 was also significant as it was twenty years ago that System Concepts was founded. The original mission - to apply a systems approach to business problems - still remains close to our hearts although we have both extended and focused our services since then. We wanted to celebrate this significant anniversary and were delighted that the Lord Chancellor allowed us to use the Riverside Room in his Residence at the House of Lords as the venue for a reception in support of the Jubilee Sailing Trust. The Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST) exists to provide adventure holidays for able bodied and disabled people of all ages (over 16) on two specially-built square rigged sailing ships - the Lord Nelson and Tenacious. The ships are designed to enable all the forty voyage crew to take an active part in sailing the ship - from stowing sails on the yards - to helming several hundred tons of three masted barque - to pulling all manner of ropes (all with strange names and none of them called a rope!). I have supported the JST for some time and we were delighted when they took the opportunity of the reception to launch their Enabling Tenacious appeal. The appeal chairman, Sir John Collins (Deputy Chairman of the Dixons Group) explained that the project to build Tenacious (which was undertaken by teams of professionals and volunteers, able-bodied and disabled working together) needed a further £4 million. Although there were several 'great and good' guests (it's the first time I have started a speech with 'My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen...' and meant it), the highlight for many was the presence of Alan Titchmarsh, one of the JST's patrons. I'm not sure if we were able to educate him in ergonomics, but he always seemed to be surrounded by admiring female members of System Concepts staff. Of course, 2001 will be remembered by most people for the horrendous events of September 11th. We had recently started a project in Wall Street and two of our team had been walking through the World Trade Center Plaza regularly until barely two days before. Fortunately, our consultants were safe as were the people we have been working with in Manhattan. Our project continues and we have been able to experience for ourselves the profound shock still tangible in New York. The only good outcome of this outrage is that it has shocked almost the entire world into united opposition to terrorism. However, it is not going to be easy and I personally despair at what we can do to prevent apparently intelligent, dedicated, people from using their suicide to kill many innocent people. Apart from the immediate horror and the ongoing tragedy for those who lost loved ones, I fear the ongoing distrust which now surrounds us. Every air passenger is a potential terrorist. Every unexpected letter is a potential bomb or disease carrier. Many US-based companies still prohibit their staff from travelling to Europe (we have even seen an increase in usability projects for US companies who have the technical expertise to do the work themselves but who are not allowed to travel). There is also talk of recession and we have certainly seen the demise of a number of web-based usability companies in the UK. However, in this uncertain future, we believe that our job remains to provide the best support we can to our clients to help them improve usability, productivity and safety. We distinguish ourselves from our competitors by the quality of our people, the range and depth of our experience and the practicality of our solutions. We have an impressive list of clients who have worked with us over many years. We value their ongoing support and look forward to continuing to work with them during 2002. Let us hope there is sufficient peace and good will in the world for that to happen. With best wishes for a peaceful Christmas and New Year. >Tom Stewart ______________________________________________________ ________ CUSTOMER CENTRED DESIGN FOR INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS London, January 15th-16th, 2002 This course provides you with tips, tools and techniques to help you understand who your customers are and what they want from the software you deliver. Packed with case studies from our own consulting work, the course provides you with the practical experience you need to design usable software -- from web sites to WAP. This new version of the course includes an entire design exercise for a mobile web application, from business requirements, through customer needs, to design, prototype and test. We have 8 places available. If you would like to attend, please call Debbie Parris on 020 7240 3388 to book your place. Download a brochure: ______________________________________________________ ________ >BENEFITS OF OFFICE ERGONOMICS Buying ergonomic office furniture and equipment can be a costly business. It can be hard for companies to see the financial benefit of supplying their staff with (for example) good chairs, ergonomic keyboards or proper foot rests. Many of the benefits of these purchases are often hidden and not all together tangible or quantifiable - something that modern-day businesses require before spending any money. A recent study published in Contemporary Ergonomics 2001 investigated a wide range of the costs and benefits associated with these purchases. A small call centre office was the focus of the research where much money had been spent on improving the working environment for the staff. This included changes not only to the physical environment such as desks and lighting, but also to working practices, such as increasing the variety of work that each operator did. It was clear that the staff generally appreciated the way in which the management had attempted to improve their working environment. It was even suggested that it added to the feeling that there was a "caring" culture within the company. A previous piece of research in the Call Centre industry suggested that this was one of the major factors affecting staff retention in this sort of environment - clearly a desirable outcome as staff retention is one of the major issues currently affecting the Call Centre industry. Since the start of the use of ergonomic principles within this office, there had also been a drop in the number of staff reporting upper limb aches and pains, and associated with this were numerous avoided costs. These included things like reduced sickness absence, less lost time for doctors' and physiotherapists' appointments, improved morale and fewer legal claims to name a few. In all, it was shown that the avoided costs resulting from fewer aches and pains would mean that the money spent on the ergonomic changes would have been paid back in just over a couple of years. While it is not always easy to quantify the benefits of using ergonomics in this sort of environment, there are none the less some very clear advantages for both the staff working there and the business. > Sue Mackenzie ______________________________________________________ ________ >USABILITY TESTING: COLLECTING QUANTITATIVE DATA We were recently commissioned to conduct a usability study comparing two brands of mobile phone with a new prototype phone. Unlike many usability tests that aim to collect qualitative usability data, our client needed harder, quantitative data on which he could base some important business decisions. This meant testing 48 participants - eight times the number commonly used in usability testing. >>Participant sample The work was conducted in Paris, since France represents a unique and important sub-market within the continental European mobile phone market. Although we are a based in London, we frequently work across Europe and for this study we used two of our French- speaking usability professionals so we could carry out the work in the local language. We recruited 48 participants, divided into novice (n=25) and expert (n=23) participant groups. These two groups contained a balanced mix of ages (between 20 and 45 yrs), gender and phone usage. >>Phones The prototype was a fully functional device. In our testing, we compared it with a Siemens SL45 and Nokia 8210 mobile phone. >>Test design Each participant used the client's phone and one of the competitor phones. We asked each person to perform a number of tasks with each phone in turn. If a participant got completely stuck, we helped them and made a note that he or she needed help. Each task was timed and rated for completion accuracy ('full success', 'partial success' or 'failure'). We also collected participants' subjective feedback: after each task we asked participants to rate how difficult they found the task, and after completing all the tasks participants completed a short questionnaire measuring a range of variables that our previous testing has identified as key usability measures. Throughout the usability test, we encouraged participants to 'think out loud' and provide a commentary on what they were experiencing. For example, we asked them to tell us what it is they were trying to do, what they were looking for and any decisions they were making. If they got stuck or felt confused, we wanted to hear that too. Participants find this a bit odd at first, but they soon get used to it. >>Tasks We presented the participants with fourteen tasks, including ten "core" tasks. As each test session had a time limit, not all of the participants had the opportunity to attempt all fourteen tasks (depending on how quickly they performed the tasks), but virtually all of them managed to attempt the core tasks. The tasks were: 1. Turn phone on. 2. Call your friend Michelle on 01.48.91.04.07. 3. During your call to Michelle, you got disconnected. Redial the number without manually entering the number. 4. Store Caroline Bissett's name and number (01.42.77.02.98) in the mobile's phone book. 5. Edit Stephan Pardot's number to 01.48.12.52.03. 6. You would like to give someone your mobile phone number. Locate your phone number on the mobile. 7. Review the list of the last 10 numbers received on your mobile. Call the last caller that called you. 8. You are about to go into a meeting and do not want your mobile to ring. Set the mobile ringer to vibrate or incoming calls. 9. Check for unread text messages. Locate and read text message. 10. Send the following text message to Yves Benoit "Call me on 01.48.10.67.00". 11. You would like to input a meeting in your mobile's diary. Enter "Meeting with Andre" in your mobile's diary for 12:00pm tomorrow and set an alarm for that time. 12. Create a shortcut for your mobile diary using the #3 key as your quick access key. 13. Set up your phone so that incoming calls are forwarded to your office phone. 14. You do not have a pen or paper, record the following name and company on your mobile "Virginie Dumoulin, Renault". >>Results Overall, the prototype phone proved easiest to use, achieving the highest success rate, the fastest overall time scores, and the best subjective ratings. >>Reporting the results We produced a full report compliant with the new, Common Industry Format (CIF) developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). We also issued a PowerPoint presentation, which we presented to our client and his equivalent department in Paris. > Ben Luff ______________________________________________________ ________ >THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG? It has recently been estimated by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) that there are over 150,000 people each year suffering symptoms of repetitive strain injury (RSI) or work related upper limb disorder (WRULD) in the UK. But in the past year there have been only 3,000 people managing to make a successful case for compensation. For every person who wins compensation for RSI there are another 50 suffering in silence, according to the TUC. Therefore the number of workers receiving compensation for RSI is believed to be the tip of the iceberg, compared with the number actually suffering. According to the TUC, British business loses £1 billion a year through loss of production and skilled workers. Most compensation awards include only £2,500 - £7,500 for 'pain and suffering' in addition to loss of earnings and the cost of future care. The workers known to be most at risk are those on small assembly lines (for example, doing rapid packaging or food processing) and those using a keyboard and/or mouse (such as typists, journalists and office workers). In a recent Health and Safety Executive study (quoted by the Labour research department), it was found that there was a particularly high prevalence of these disorders among keyboard users. In the study almost 55% of the workers had had problems with RSI at some time, and 49% had experienced symptoms in the past three months. As well as costing business dearly, RSI or WRULD can affect individuals' lives causing much pain, disability and could possibly even put an end to their chosen career. Much of the suffering and cost is avoidable through good workplace design, teaching employees how to set up their workstations correctly, encouraging good working practice, such as regular breaks or periods of different work, and providing prompt rehabilitation for workers reporting symptoms. Moreover, it is now well recognized that factors such as work rate, a lack of control over the process, tight deadlines and other factors causing mental stress for operators can also increase the likelihood of an operator developing RSI or WRULD. > Sue Mackenzie ______________________________________________________ ________ >Feedback? >Back issues? >Subscribe? >Unsubscribe? Use this link: http://www.system-concepts.com/cgi- bin/syscon/join/subscribe.pl?Joel3639@aol.com ----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- Return-Path: Received: from rly-st12.mail.aol.com (rly-st12.mail.aol.com [172.20.114.201]) by air-xa03.mail.aol.com (v82.22) with ESMTP id MAILINXA310-1203125932; Mon, 03 Dec 2001 12:59:32 -0500 Received: from rly-xa03.mx.aol.com (rly-xa03.mail.aol.com [172.20.105.72]) by rly-st12.mail.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.8/AOL-5.0.0) with ESMTP id MAA03239 for ; Mon, 3 Dec 2001 12:57:04 -0500 (EST) From: webmaster@system-concepts.com Received: from anchor-post-34.mail.demon.net (anchor-post- 34.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.92]) by rly-xa03.mx.aol.com (v82.22) with ESMTP id MAILRELAYINXA38-1203125549; Mon, 03 Dec 2001 12:55:49 -0500 Received: from eleventh.www.demon.net ([194.159.80.35]) by anchor-post-34.mail.demon.net with smtp (Exim 2.12 #1) id 16AxJj-000CB8-0Y for Joel3639@aol.com; Mon, 3 Dec 2001 17:55:47 +0000 Received: from syscon by eleventh.www.demon.net (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Mon, 3 Dec 2001 17:55:47 +0000 Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 17:55:47 +0000 To: Joel3639@aol.com Subject: System Concepts Newsletter -- Dec 2001 Message-Id: