[Sigia-l] Usability testing into the dustbin?

[Donna M. Fritzsche]

>.
>
>"knowledge about making software usable that can be brought to bear"
>
>Great - what is that knowledge? Can you share some of it with us in say,
>10 principles or heuristics?
>
>  - Richard Dalton
>

In the study of expert system design or subject matter expert 
interviewing the following concept has been explored: people who are 
very good at doing something don't necessarily have the ability to 
break that knowledge down into its component parts,steps, attributes, 
or qualities.  It has become "compiled" knowledge.  One of the roles 
of the expert system designer than becomes to coax that information 
out of the expert or to get at it from another point of view.

Another way of looking at this discussion: the fact that a good 
artist cannot necessarily tell you in words how or why them make 
artistic design decisions, does not preclude them from making the 
right design decisions.

The same might be said about how, why or when scientists make 
break-through discoveries.  Unfortunately, its not all about rules. 
Sometime people just "know".

My .02 cents.

Donna