The map

To get things going, here's an initial brainstorm of how I think this idea might evolve.  A map of the territory....so I don't lose my way...

The usable business has the following features (with some examples):


The Principles

Visibility  

Is it easy for people to see the current status of projects/work/tasks?
Is it easy for people to see when mistakes are happening?
Is it easy for people to find important information?Is it easy for people to find important information/documents?

Good mapping 

Are the tools needed to do a job close at hand? 
Is the information needed close at hand? Are different inputs/outputs (e.g. documents) in a format that supports the person who then uses them?
Is help/guidance/instructions next to the things they apply to?

Employees are in control 

Can employees make their own decisions? Is the system flexible? I.e. supports multiple ways of doing things? Does it force a 'one size fits all' approach? (bad)
Does the system encourage experiment and change?

Good help/support 

What support is in place? Do employees have access to help guides? Books/references? Internet? Can employees quickly put knowledge back into the system - i.e. knowledge management? Is information easy to find? Is it placed close to the tasks where it is useful?

Good feedback 

How quickly does an employee find out they've done something right/wrong How quickly does the business know it has done something right/wrong What routes have been opened for feedback (internal and external)?

Speak the employee's language

Can everyone translate the company's goals in a way that makes sense for their day-to-day work?
Is there an absence of jargon and management speak?

Is designed for tasks/goals not 'functions' or 'operations' 

Has the workflow been designed to take account of how different parts of the business fit together? Is the workflow designed to make it easy for different people/tasks to coordinate well together? 

Is work organised around results/products rather than tasks?
Are tasks frequently questioned to see if they still fit the company's goals?

Is user-tested/iterated - i.e. organic improvement/rapid evaluation and change 

Can the business quickly try things out and then evaluate them and change/improve them? Is there a route to allow testing/evaluation to happen?

Is logical/easy to learn 

Is the system designed to make it easy to do the right thing? I.e. supportive templates, workflow, safety-nets, etc? 
Does the company and the culture support good or bad practice?
Have things been simplified as much as possible, but no more?

Supports editing over production

Are there templates for common functions/tasks?

Are there re-usable building blocks to build things?

Are there guides, tick lists, etc to complete tasks?

Is it easy to find the work of other people so you don't reinvent the wheel?

Supports flow

Is there a way to block out distraction?

Is waiting minimised (quick feedback and information loops)?

Is challenge suited to the employees (is there challenge at all? Is it the right size?)

Can people immerse themselves in problems/tasks?

The process

• Observation
• Questions
• Diaries
• Task analysis
• Brainstorms
• Group design sessions
• Ideas
• Rapid prototypes
• Evaluation
• Development
• Refinement
• Iterate again