Windows Workflow Foundation API Usability Lab Video – Part 1 | Charles

BryanF

Well, we already know they throw chairs... (j/k!) Tongue Out

gregoryw

Oh, come on, we know it's the World Wildlife Fund Wink

what_ever

Would mind seeing more videos with Nancy Lincoln Perry..... Wink

BryanF

I never said I wasn't referring to them. Smiley

BryanF

Speaking more seriously, this is an interesting process. Are the results of these studies used in any broader way beyond the products being tested? For instance, do they influence future revisions of the API design guidlines of the .Net framework or something along those lines? Is there a company wide repository where architects and developers can gleam the data for common patterns--a more collective body of knowledge, so to speak?

jamescon

I'm not sure about a company wide repository, but Steven Clarke (who was in the video) is a usability engineer involved with all of the WinFx components. So he helps identify common themes and areas of inconsistency acrosss Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, and Windows Presentation Foundation.

James Conard
http://blogs.msdn.com/jamescon

jorgen_veisdal
http://google.com

Larry Osterman often blogs fun MS project names, and I've got to comment this one being WWF.

stevencl

In response to the question about whether or not we generalise the results of these studies to other APIs, the answer is yes, we do. There are a couple of ways we do this.

I work with Krzysztof, Brad, Joe, Mitch and others on the WinFX review team. Whenever we're reviewing an API, I'll look for API designs that I think will exhibit the same issues that have been observed in the labs. We'll discuss during the review the extent to which the same issue may or may not manifest itself in the API we're reviewing and the API team will decide whether or not they will make changes.
When we observe patterns of behavior across multiple studies we roll these up and produce a design guideline that aims to inform API designers how to avoid the same issue.

Thanks,

Steven

BryanF

Cool. Thanks much for the reponses. Smiley