"The Bridge": Day 3 (part 2)

I have received some pictures (not all, but most the important ones).

First, a recap of Day 2:
Our "realistic" picture evolved a little bit; Ahjay added some grouping tags ("WHERE", "WHAT") which we incorporated from there on out.

And here is what our OBJECT list finally looked like; complete with attributes and verbs:

Day 3
Hard at work.

After hashing things out in the morning, we finally had something akin to a prototype forming at our fingertips.

I really struggled with the overall complexity; I wanted simplicity. As a compromise, we worked very hard to make as much optional as possible, attempting to capitalize on pre-filled defaults and "quickfill" options, trying to use the technology and data that should already be available to reduce user interaction. For instance, if the user might be presented with the most recent Products at the top of one's list. Or setting your default QuickFill option (Previous SR, Profile or OCM) in your global Preferences. You will see, also, at the top left blue stickies for "Support Recommended" and "Product specific tips"; these are to be dynamically populated as you type and fill in information - the more information the user provides, the more relevant and specific the search becomes. I do not have any pictures, but on one of our white sheets we put in a meter as a gimmick to relate how more information upfront helps the user and the analyst focus on the problem (akin to the Password Strength Meter).

Near the end of the day, our final draft prototype was looking like this:

Again, you can see how "insta search" is being populated in the right-hand side, hopefully not too distracting, but also hopefully to be filled with information that would perhaps prevent an SR or guide a customer down the right path. Again, we are assuming huge improvements to Search. :)  This picture also demonstrates one possible "multi-screen" approach, trying to cram in as much as possible "above the fold". I argued for the "one-screen" approach, but compromised and suggested that a Preference be added to allow either one-page or multiple pages.

Another thing that might be slightly less obvious is that we are trying to keep the big picture in mind, or "tell a story" as Kelli put it. We are trying to describe a problem, which has a beginning (ie, the environment), a middle or body (the Description) and an ending (optional files, template questions, further elaboration, etc).

In the end, it still feels like way too much complexity to me. I noted earlier that I really want to talk to a human to route the issue (which obviates the whole "Category" mess). I do not mind filling in all the technical details, but what if you had a "Contact Analyst" button that, like Amazon and many other companies, auto-dialed you (the user) and attempted to get a IHUB person on the phone asap? Yes, I realize from Oracle's standpoint this is impractical. But does anyone else want that?

It will be interesting to see what comes out of this project. I think I am excited. The workshop itself was definitely very productive, eye-opening and an awesome experience that I am fully thankful to Oracle for.

Before we all parted ways, we did get a group photo. Say "Cheese!"