The Thoughtless Design of Everyday Things PDF Download

Author: KARL. WIEGERS
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781604271782
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Have you ever noticed how many products appear to be designed by someone who has never used a product of that kind before? Nearly everyone has encountered websites, software apps, cars, appliances, and other products that made them wonder what the designers were thinking. The Thoughtless Design of Everyday Things presents more than 150 examples of products that violate nine fundamental design principles, along with suggestions for improving many of the flawed user interfaces and other design problems. These examples of thoughtless design reveal 70 specific lessons that designers ought to heed as they craft the user experience. This book describes numerous specific practices for enhancing product usability through usage-centered design strategies. You'll also see more than 40 products that exhibit particularly thoughtful designs, the kinds of products that surprise and delight users. Whether you're a designer, a product development manager, or a thoughtful and curious consumer, you'll find The Thoughtless Design of Everyday Things engaging, informative, and insightful.

Author: Jane Fulton Suri
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 9780811847759
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
A look at how people intuitively adapt, exploit and react to things in their environment. Some of these actions are instinctive, others are the product of habit or social learning. 'Thoughtless Acts?' is design firm IDEO's introduction to observation-based practice: the way design can be inspired by such everyday interactions with the world.

Author: Karl E. Wiegers
Publisher: Microsoft Press
ISBN: 0735645787
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
Zero in on key project-initiation tasks—and build a solid foundation for successful software development. In this concise guide, critically-acclaimed author Karl E. Wiegers fills a void in project management literature by focusing on the activities that are essential—but often overlooked—for launching any project. Drawing on his extensive experience, Karl shares lessons learned, proven practices, and tools for getting your project off to the right start—and steering it to ultimate success. Lay a foundation for project success—discover how to: Effectively charter a project Define meaningful criteria for project success and product releases Negotiate achievable commitments for project teams and stakeholders Identify and document potential barriers to success—and manage project risks Apply the Wideband Delphi method for more accurate estimation Measure project performance and avoid common metrics traps Systematically apply lessons learned to future projects Companion Web site includes: Worksheets from inside the book Project document templates Resources for project initiation and process improvement

Author: Soetsu Yanagi
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241366364
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
The daily lives of ordinary people are replete with objects, common things used in commonplace settings. These objects are our constant companions in life. As such, writes Soetsu Yanagi, they should be made with care and built to last, treated with respect and even affection. They should be natural and simple, sturdy and safe - the aesthetic result of wholeheartedly fulfilling utilitarian needs. They should, in short, be things of beauty. In an age of feeble and ugly machine-made things, these essays call for us to deepen and transform our relationship with the objects that surround us. Inspired by the work of the simple, humble craftsmen Yanagi encountered during his lifelong travels through Japan and Korea, they are an earnest defence of modest, honest, handcrafted things - from traditional teacups to jars to cloth and paper. Objects like these exemplify the enduring appeal of simplicity and function: the beauty of everyday things.

Author: Karl E. Wiegers
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
ISBN: 0133489299
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Book Description
This is the digital version of the printed book (Copyright © 1996). Written in a remarkably clear style, Creating a Software Engineering Culture presents a comprehensive approach to improving the quality and effectiveness of the software development process. In twenty chapters spread over six parts, Wiegers promotes the tactical changes required to support process improvement and high-quality software development. Throughout the text, Wiegers identifies scores of culture builders and culture killers, and he offers a wealth of references to resources for the software engineer, including seminars, conferences, publications, videos, and on-line information. With case studies on process improvement and software metrics programs and an entire part on action planning (called “What to Do on Monday”), this practical book guides the reader in applying the concepts to real life. Topics include software culture concepts, team behaviors, the five dimensions of a software project, recognizing achievements, optimizing customer involvement, the project champion model, tools for sharing the vision, requirements traceability matrices, the capability maturity model, action planning, testing, inspections, metrics-based project estimation, the cost of quality, and much more! Principles from Part 1 Never let your boss or your customer talk you into doing a bad job. People need to feel the work they do is appreciated. Ongoing education is every team member’s responsibility. Customer involvement is the most critical factor in software quality. Your greatest challenge is sharing the vision of the final product with the customer. Continual improvement of your software development process is both possible and essential. Written software development procedures can help build a shared culture of best practices. Quality is the top priority; long-term productivity is a natural consequence of high quality. Strive to have a peer, rather than a customer, find a defect. A key to software quality is to iterate many times on all development steps except coding: Do this once. Managing bug reports and change requests is essential to controlling quality and maintenance. If you measure what you do, you can learn to do it better. You can’t change everything at once. Identify those changes that will yield the greatest benefits, and begin to implement them next Monday. Do what makes sense; don’t resort to dogma.

Author: Tharon Howard
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
ISBN: 008095720X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Social networks and online communities are reshaping the way people communicate, both in their personal and professional lives. What makes some succeed and others fail? What draws a user in? What makes them join? What keeps them coming back? Entrepreneurs and businesses are turning to user experience practitioners to figure this out. Though they are well-equipped to evaluate and create a variety of interfaces, social networks require a different set of design principles and ways of thinking about the user in order to be successful. Design to Thrive presents tried and tested design methodologies, based on the author’s decades of research, to ensure successful and sustainable online communities -- whether a wiki for employees to share procedures and best practices or for the next Facebook. The book describes four criteria, called "RIBS," which are necessary to the design of a successful and sustainable online community. These concepts provide designers with the tools they need to generate informed creative and productive design ideas, to think proactively about the communities they are building or maintaining, and to design communities that encourage users to actively contribute. Provides essential tools to create thriving social networks, helping designers to avoid common pitfalls, avoid costly mistakes, and to ensure that communities meet client needs Contains real world stories from popular, well known communities to illustrate how the concepts work Features a companion online network that employs the techniques outlined in the boo

Author: Diane Setterfield
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 147671195X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Killing a bird with his slingshot as a boy, William Bellman grows up a wealthy family man unaware of how his act of childhood cruelty will have terrible consequences until a wrenching tragedy compels him to enter into a macabre bargain with a stranger in black.

Author: Karl E. Wiegers
Publisher: Microsoft Press
ISBN: 0735637210
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
No matter how much instruction you’ve had on managing software requirements, there’s no substitute for experience. Too often, lessons about requirements engineering processes lack the no-nonsense guidance that supports real-world solutions. Complementing the best practices presented in his book, Software Requirements, Second Edition, requirements engineering authority Karl Wiegers tackles even more of the real issues head-on in this book. With straightforward, professional advice and practical solutions based on actual project experiences, this book answers many of the tough questions raised by industry professionals. From strategies for estimating and working with customers to the nuts and bolts of documenting requirements, this essential companion gives developers, analysts, and managers the cosmic truths that apply to virtually every software development project. Discover how to: • Make the business case for investing in better requirements practices • Generate estimates using three specific techniques • Conduct inquiries to elicit meaningful business and user requirements • Clearly document project scope • Implement use cases, scenarios, and user stories effectively • Improve inspections and peer reviews • Write requirements that avoid ambiguity

Author: Karl Wiegers
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN: 9780137487776
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Drawing on 20+ years helping software teams succeed in nearly 150 organizations, Karl Wiegers presents 60 concise lessons and practical recommendations students can apply to all kinds of projects, regardless of application domain, technology, development lifecycle, or platform infrastructure. Embodying both wisdom for deeper understanding and guidance for practical use, this book represent an invaluable complement to the technical nuts and bolts software developers usually study. Software Development Pearls covers multiple crucial domains of project success: requirements, design, project management, culture and teamwork, quality, and process improvement. Each chapter suggests several first steps and next steps to help you begin immediately applying the author's hard-won lessons--and writing code that is more successful in every way that matters.

Author: Karl Eugene Wiegers
Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This practical introduction to peer reviews covers different methods of peer review, from the formal method of inspection to other less formal methods, and addresses the cultural and practical aspects of both.