Photo Source: http://cinemafique.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/warren-ellis-announces-new-excalibur-project/

I love the term scope creep because it so adequately describes what can be the downfall of any IT project – the never ending changing of specifications during the building process.

In the early days of working with clients, almost every project I worked on fell victim to scope creep.  It’s so easy to do because IT folks and account managers want to please their clients, but scope creep is a double-edged sword – not only does it add non-billable hours of programming to an IT project, it also creates discontent on the client’s side.  Ironically, clients are happier when specs are followed religiously and the end product is what was agreed upon at the earliest phase.  Based on 12 years of experience, I can say that even though clients may ask to change specs in the middle of the project, they are more satisfied overall when you say, “sure, but that will cost you x.”  Knowledge of the effort and costs required to make functionality or design happen results in happier programmers and customers.

How to prevent scope creep?  It’s actually not that difficult once you practice it a bit.  Here is how we do it:

Ask the client to identify the end goals of IT project

This seems obvious, but can often be missed when the client already has an idea of what the application should look like.  Even if the client provides detailed specs, step back and ask what the business goal of the project is.  A better understanding results in a better software product.

Provide a detailed scope of work document

Include in the scope of work the goal of the project, a detailed functionality list, an estimate of the design, mockup, programming and testing hours needed, and an estimated timeline for completion.  If user interface changes are to be made, build into the scope of work a time frame and hours to build mockups.  Base timelines on receiving required sign-offs from client, for example: “6 weeks from receipt of signed mockups.”

Walk through the scope of work document with the client

With the client’s account manager, plan a call or face to face meeting to walk through the scope of work document and make sure the client understands what they are getting before signing the document.

Require sign-off on the Scope of Work before work is begun

This is very easy to do when using electronic signature online software such as Echosign.

Require sign-off on mockups before programming is begun

Put the screen shots into a document and ask the client to sign it to verify everyone is on the same page.

Re-quote scope changes

You may be tempted to allow some minor scope changes along the way without going through the hassle of re-writing the scope document.  Don’t do it.  Those minor changes can easily turn into major changes.  If you want to comp the changes, fine, but still write them into the scope document, indicate the number of hours, and then put a zero price next to them.  The client then understands that work is being done, but you’ve given them some hours out of the kindness of your heart.  Ideally, you would charge for any scope changes.  Most often the client decides that “x, y, z feature isn’t that important.”  As they say, “A pretty good test of a man’s religion [or software requirements] is how it affects his pocketbook.” – Francis J. Grimke.

Create beta testing guide for the client and ask for sign-off

This doesn’t have to be a formal sign-off (although you might want to make it one in some cases), but at least ask for an email from the client indicating they’ve beta tested the product and it is ready for release.

1.  HR shall not be intimidated by IT folk who talk in big, scary words.

2.  HR shall not let their software lead them, but shall lead the software to help meet their goals.

3.  HR shall not collect a bunch of superflous information from applicants via an online application, just because they can.

4.  HR shall not allow their marketing department to place the link to the career section anywhere but on the home page of the brand web site.

5.  HR shall not let resumes slip into the infamous black hole, but rather should get to know their ATS and use it.

6.  HR shall not buy any software without first understanding why they need it.

7.  HR shall not assume that the software companies with the biggest marketing budgets have the best software for their needs.

8.  HR shall understand and walk through their hiring process as an applicant from beginning to end at least once a year.

9.  HR shall not waste their applicants’ nor their recruiters’ time with extraneous information gathering and unncessary form validation.

10.  HR should keep asking questions of technology experts until they gain the understanding they want and need.

If Jesus hadn’t come in a manger, in a drafty cave, we might think that the goal of our lives is comfort, free from pain, hunger, and cold.

If Jesus hadn’t come in a manger, after a normal human birth, we might think that we need great supernatural acts to accomplish anything important.

If Jesus hadn’t come in a manager, with the help of some ordinary people, we might think that the simple things we do on earth don’t matter.

If Jesus hadn’t come in a manager, as a screaming infant child, we might think that humanity, with the spirit of God, doesn’t have the power over good and evil.

If Jesus hadn’t come in a manger, in a specific time and place, we might consider ourselves puppets in world affairs, where God pulls the strings to make sure everything goes His way.

If Jesus hadn’t come in a manger, under a starry sky, we might think God is only watching us from a distance.

If Jesus hadn’t come in a manger, with an earthly mother who gave birth in pain, we might think we can sit back and wait for everyone else to do “something” to make the world a better place.

If Jesus hadn’t come in a manger, part of an intricate plan, we might think that we are products of chance.

If Jesus hadn’t come in a manger… we wouldn’t care enough to even wonder why.

It is possible to have a dynamic career site that attracts high quality applicants, while reducing the time to fill.  The below strategies will give you a jump start in making a super usable career site.

Be Accommodating

Design the web site for multiple browsers, for mobile, ipad and for plain text readers.

Show Your True Colors

Leverage your corporate brand and decorate your career site with colors, logos and wording that reflects your culture.

Make it Easy to Apply Now

Put a link to your career site on the company’s home page.  Reduce the number of clicks needed to get to a list of active jobs.  Make the apply now button stand out.

Provide Clear and Relevant Job Information

Write easy to understand job titles and descriptions.  Provide information applicants will need to know about the job up-front so they can either become enthusiastic about how well they fit the criteria, or self-select out at the beginning of the process.

Outline Expectations

Once the applicant clicks on the Apply Now button, provide information on how long the process will take, what information is needed, and what the next steps in the hiring process are.

Collect Only What You Need

Put your thinking cap on and figure out exactly what information will need to be collected during the initial application to make a decision to move the applicant ot the next step of the hiring process. Don’t collect info that is needed three steps down the road.  Use a phase 2 application for additional information needed later.

Keep Forms Small

Usability studies show that “short term memory famously holds only about 7 chunks of information, and these fade from your brain in about 20 seconds” (Jakob Nielson, “Short Term Memory and Web Usability.”  Keep forms short so that the applicant’s mind doesn’t wander or get overwhelmed.

Give Progress Updates

Provide progress meters during the online application.  After the application is complete, provide status updates to the applicant via emails and online portals.

Follow-Up Often

Leverage auto-emails to stay in touch.  Let applicants know when they are no longer being considered.

Build a Relationship

Hook applicants up with social media.  Make your career site sticky by providing fresh content via a blog or youtube channel.

Follow these 10 strategies and watch your candidate pool increase in quality.  Stay tuned for more in-depth blogs outlining how to accomplish each of the above.

Quiz:
http://mystaffingpro.com/resources/quiz.asp

After you take the quiz, if you find some holes in your candidate experience, sign-up for the webinar I’ll be  hosting on November 9th on “10 Essential Strategies for Making Your Career Site Usable, Not Confusable.”

Webinar registration:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/590491246

Stay tuned for the 10 essentials in future blogs!

Usable design involves a focus on reducing the amount of work a user has to do to use an application – reducing the number of clicks, keeping it simple, and considering the user needs above all.

However, focus on just making it easy isn’t enough – a more mature design methodology has emerged that marries functionality and a usable interface with the mission of the application.

Human Factors International has been championing this more advanced design methodology with PET design, which involves integrating persuasive engineering into software design. “We recognize that usability is no longer enough. We need to go beyond making it so that people can complete a task; we have to make sure that they will do the task, that they will convert,” says Dr. Eric Schaffer, CEO, Human Factors International.

For e-commerce sites, this may mean creating software that takes longer to use, but actually results in higher purchases. Stores put milk in the back of the store for the same reason – making the milk harder to find actually increases store sales – thus meeting their end goal.

This approach needs to be applied in the HR world to the online job application. Because the online application has been largely ignored and difficult to use for applicants, software providers are rushing to make the online application super usable in an apology to applicants.  However, the ultimate online application meshes usability with functionality, while accomplishing the end goal of the application. In this case, the need the application meets is matching the right applicant with the right job. A long, clunky process doesn’t meet that need any more than a short process that doesn’t collect necessary information. A well-designed, usable application that gives applicants the opportunity to present themselves in the best light, even if it takes a few more clicks, is a win for all. Recruiters want to maximize their resources in finding the best candidates, applicants want to showcase their skills.  A marriage between the two is the goal.

Image from Datamation magazine, 1965.  Courtesty of The Computer Boys

At myStaffingPro, we are fortunate to work with IT students during their college years.  As we send them off into the “real wold,” and hopefully into a full-time IT job, there’s some things I want them to know.

Put yourself in the user’s shoes
Listen to what the software user is saying with his heart, not just with his mouth.  Many users can’t verbalize exactly what they want.  Good developers will dig deeper to find the felt need and create software that meets that need.

Think like a hacker
Expect to spend more time on security than you want.  It’s a reality of the world that people will try to take advantage of you, your software, and your customers.

Delve deeper
Don’t stop at the first solution – keep digging for the best solution, while staying within time and budget constraints, of course.  Usually the best solution isn’t the something you’ll learn in a classroom.

P & I
Leverage the work of those before you by utilizing free online resources, attending conferences, and sharing code with other developers.  Study successful applications.  Share freely of your resources as well.

Mock up everything
Even if it’s just a drawing on a napkin, a mock-up will give you better focus.

Test it to death
Don’t hand anything in as complete until you’ve tested it at least 10 times more than you thought you needed.  Again, test it yourself, BEFORE handing it off to QA or your supervisor.

Communicate, communicate, communicate
By nature, most programmers focus so much on their skill that their communication skills don’t get used much.  Force yourself to communicate with your co-workers about what you’re doing.  Then listen, listen, listen.

Ask questions…
…but only after you’ve made an honest attempt to find the answers yourself.

Get to work on time and be nice to others
This applies to any career choice – hopefully the why is obvious.

You’ve chosen an exciting career that will allow you to create art in the form of software.  Keep your focus on the end goal of what you’re creating, and you’ll keep your inspiration.  Carpe diem!

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.” – Steve Jobs in Fortune

Mobile is here for good

Software companies  have mobile figured out and it’s a non-issue, technically.  Adoption by HR is another issue, but eventually mobile will become status quo.

The candidate experience might finally be getting its due

I was excited to attend the session on the Candidate Experience Awards, and even more excited to hear about the diversity of companies that won.  Companies from every industry and of every size were represented.  One thing that stood out to me based on their survey results – the career site is now an accepted and common HR tool, even though it took years for adoption.  What is it that is being touted now that may be as necessary in the future?  A usable applicant experience, maybe?

Small/ mid-size market yet untapped

The majority of companies I talked to have been using applicant tracking and HRIS systems for a while now.  If anything, they are looking for technology that delivers what it promises (hard to find), not new technology.  However, there are thousands of companies in the small/ mid-sized market that have yet to even implement an applicant tracking system or HRIS, that are largely ignored by tech giants.

Re-emergence of the big boys

I hear so many complaints about some of the unwieldy software giants that I thought they were losing ground.  Not so, it seems, based on the huge booths on display.  My guess is that they have been able to hang on through tough economic times by acquisitions and spending large amounts of cash.  Unfortunately some of the more innovative, smaller companies have been bought up.

Integration is king

I heard it over and over again – the need for a system that talks with their existing “x” system.  The ability to integrate is a differentiator and wise software purveyors will have rich APIs.

Overall trend toward usability

The features are there, now it’s time to make them usable.  Innovative companies will create interfaces that expose all the great business logic to the common man.  Well-designed user interfaces are going to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The odds are still against you

I learned the odds are still against you at the Vegas black jack tables.  I won’t tell you how I figured that out though.

I keep a record of positive comments about our software that have been passed on to me.  I thought I would share some of the comments that have come from applicants applying for jobs.  It’s a way to congratulate our product team on a job well done!

Check out these actual emails or support tickets from job applicants using myStaffingPro to apply:

Subject: Help
Request. Support Code: 18431592

Thank someone at your company for making your on-line application process so easy.

Subject: Help
Request. Support Code: 19374142

I wanted to commend you on an excellent site.  The application and questioning process was very simple and quick.  Thank you

Subject: Just Thank You

Your Web site is very easy to understand.  The whole process is the best by far.

Subject: Help
Request. Support Code: 28576810

Not a question or a problem!

I want to thank the individuals who are responsible for creating and maintaining the web site where I just completed an application for a _____, for the tremendous job they’re doing.

I have submitted many online applications over the last several months, but although the experience is never pleasurable, it was pleasurable indeed to have the opportunity to provide ___ with all of the information they requested in a highly readable format with as little effort as possible while also being able to provide them with additional information that I believe will be useful to them.

Your online application process is very, very much better than any other I’ve experienced. Thank you!

Subject: Help

There is no question or problem.  I just wanted to let you know that your online job application is one of the best I’ve ever filled out.  Simple and efficient.

Subject: Visitor Email via Contact Form On Marketing Site

 I just wanted to leave a comment. I was searching for a job on the ____ website and noticed it is powered by you. It is a great tool. I am very impressed. It is easy to use, it works, and, is very aesthetically pleasing. I could go on and on. Every time I am searching for a job and see powered by ____, I want to write those people and tell them their product needs alot of help. It actually annoys me while searching for a job. It’s the opposite of your product. It never works right, it is ugly, etc. I hope you can try and persuade their customers to come to you. Maybe I should be writing them also. Have a great day.

And finally, for a good laugh… one of our help desk representatives had to share this unique experience with everyone in the company!

Live chat script:

Help Desk: Hello. How may I assist you?

Applicant: hi my name is jake and i am wanting to become a country music singer. i also know i need a manager and i have no idea what to do.

Help Desk: Hi Jake, I am a technical helpdesk for the application process and I don’t think I am able to help you. But, good luck to you.

itunes for my iphone?
I came to Apple late in the game, so I missed the ipod entirely.  I was baffled as to why I had to create an itunes account to sync apps to my iphone.  I didn’t want music, I just wanted apps.  I was confused even more when I realized I had to…

… install software?
I just wanted to get apps on my iphone, not on my computer.  So why did I have to download and install an application on my PC from itunes.com, create an account, and then sync with my phone?  It would have made more sense if I could create the account on my phone and just use it “in the cloud”.  It felt very early 21st century.

Lack of real people
I was panicking earlier in the year when I checked my email only to find 100s of dollars of itunes receipts.  I looked everywhere to find a customer service number for itunes and couldn’t find one.  I wasn’t sure if I had been hacked and my checking account compromised, so I called the bank to cancel my checking account.  I went online to send an email request to Apple as well.  I was promised a response within “24 hours.” To make a long story short, my 9 year old son thought the game he was playing was asking him to spend pretend money, not real.  Within minutes, he’d racked up 100s of dollars in charges.  Thankfully, Apple did reply (24 hours later) and refunded my money.  I was very appreciative.  But if you’re going to deal in that much money, you need to have a way for people to call you.

iphone size and shape
It’s just too darn hard to hold to my ear.  I don’t even want to use it to talk on the phone with anyone.  It’s great for email though.

This list isn’t to bash Apple, because they’ve done amazing things.  I love my iphone and ipad.  But these examples show that anyone can miss the boat on usability because they haven’t stepped back to take a look at how the “novice” sees them.  The take-away from all of this is to always test your products and apps with new eyes, using actual novice users.  That is absolutely the only way you’ll be able to discover usability issues.  Because no one is immune from usability issues… even the big boys.

“After all, usability really just means that making sure that something works well: that a person of average (or even below average) ability and experience can use the thing – whether it’s a Web site, a fighter jet, or a revolving door – for its intended purpose without getting hopelessly frustrated.”
~Steve Krug in his book Don’t Make Me Think