[Sigia-l] Usability Horror Stories

[Whitney Quesenbery]

 >As part of this, he has asked us to find examples of
 >"usability horror stories" where a product or site's
 >lack of usability has cost a company on a
 >near-catastrophic level.

There is a small (and oldish) collection of stories on 
http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/usability_resources/usability_in_the_r 
eal_world/profiles_and_case_studies/index.html

and

http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/usability_resources/usability_in_the_r 
eal_world/benefits_of_usability.html

and other resources to pursue on

http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/usability_resources/usability_in_the_r 
eal_world/selling_usability/index.html

You might also want to look up the books:
Tom Laudauer, The Trouble With Computers
Paul Strassman, The Squandered Computer
Bias and Mayhew, Cost Justifying Usability

All three have a number of well-documented stories of problems.





Whitney Quesenbery
Whitney Interactive Design, LLC
w. www.WQusability.com
e. whitneyq at wqusability.com
p. 908-638-5467

UPA  - www.usabilityprofessionals.org
STC Usability SIG: www.stcsig.org/usability