~~~~~~~ BRITISH HCI GROUP NEWS SERVICE ~~~~~~~~~~
~~ http://www.bcs.org.uk/hci/ ~~
~~ All news to: [log in to unmask] ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ NOTE: Please reply to article's originator, ~~
~~ not the News Service ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fulltime Usability Positions at Microsoft
Over the past ten years, Microsoft has implemented a user-centered product
design process that integrates usability at every level. This has changed
the thinking and goals of all groups that contribute to Microsoft product
design, and has led to great improvements in the features and interfaces of
Microsoft products. The results are measurable increases in the ability of
customers to learn and use our products. Microsoft is seeking qualified
Usability Engineers for a number of open positions across the company.
Please see job description below and a list of technology groups that have
openings. All positions are located in Redmond, Washington.
How to apply: Email your resume to [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> in ASCII text or Word format, or send it to:
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Attn: Recruiting, Dept. - P2rff-1000
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-8303
Microsoft offers a competitive salary and excellent benefits. Microsoft has
a corporate commitment to diversity and in that spirit welcomes application
from all individuals.
For more information about jobs like these at Microsoft, please visit our
web site at:
http://www.microsoft.com/jobs/usability/
<http://www.microsoft.com/jobs/usability/>
USABILITY ENGINEER - Job Code: P2rff-1000
Responsibilities: Design and conduct usability studies for the product (lab
and field), analyze the results of usability studies, identify usability
defects based on analysis, report the results to program managers, product
designers, developers, test engineers, and marketers. Work with design team
to set usability goals for product, generate long-term usability plans for
product, represent and interpret usability data and usability HCI research
during product design process, track usability issues, report progress
toward meeting usability goals to management.
Requirements:
* Demonstrated experience conducting usability evaluations in the
commercial software industry
* Thorough knowledge of the field of human-computer interaction,
research design skills in experimental design, observational methods, and
data analysis
* The ability to communicate and argue for results, methods, and
approaches (orally and in writing)
* The ability to make effective group presentations
* A MA/MS or Ph.D. in human-computer interaction, usability
engineering, psychology (cognitive, experimental, human factors, or social)
or a related field is highly desired, as is knowledge of the Windows 95 user
interface design guidelines.
Technology Groups
BackOffice
The BackOffice usability team supports server applications such as Exchange
Server and BackOffice Server. Our team also supports Microsoft Learning
Technologies which provides a way for companies to create their own online
learning technologies. We work on products such as Outlook Web Access,
knowledge management portal (for document management), among others. We have
a wide range of users we are interested in including corporate end users,
solution providers, developers, content providers, service providers, and
system administrators. This wide range of users provides our usability
engineers to opportunity to employ a variety of usability methodologies.
Business Tools Division
The usability team supports Microsoft products that are key business tools
in the corporate environment. The products we currently support are Project
(for project management), and Visio Standard and Visio Professional (drawing
tools for creating flowcharts, orgcharts, marketing charts, network
diagrams, etc.). Usability engineers work closely with the development team,
program managers, and product planners to create appropriate user
interfaces. We use a wide variety of laboratory, field, and survey
methodologies.
Consumer Group
The usability team for the Consumer Group supports Microsoft's products and
offerings in the Internet space. These include the MSN web portal and
services, eShop, CarPoint, HomeAdvisor, MoneyCentral, Money, Messenger,
Communities, Chat and Microsoft's consumer Internet browser effort. We
employ many usability techniques and adapt and create new ones when
necessary to fit the Internet time schedules. We support all aspects of the
design process including field tests and surveys for early understanding for
input product requirements and definition, competitive and cross version
usability testing to establish benchmarks, and iterative tests to refine
interfaces. As a highly competitive and growing area the Internet presents
challenges to the usability team to provide timely data in order to impact
constantly evolving designs based on ever-changing technology. It also
requires a close integration with the teams that design and develop the user
interfaces and constant attention to the development and training of our
usability engineers through participation in conferences and seminars.
Content Development & Delivery Group
The CDDG usability team supports the www.microsoft.com
<http://www.microsoft.com> platform (site wide navigation elements and
services such as Search, Download Center, etc) as well as the microsoft.com
web content providers to the platform (TechNet, MSDN, Office, Windows). The
usability of the MSDN and TechNet CD and DVD products are also within our
domain. Engineers work closely with the Program Managers to develop cogent
usability plans and studies, incorporating laboratory, information
architecture, and field study methodologies.
Hardware User Research
HUR's focus in the Hardware Design Group is to investigate product-related
user issues and communicate design guidance to the development teams for
intellimouse pointing devices, data entry and control (keyboards),
Sidewinder gaming products, web cameras and all new hardware ventures. User
research inspires, educates, and identifies potential risks and problem
areas, and discovers new opportunities for product design. HUR staff works
closely with Industrial Design, User Interaction Design, User Assistance,
Program Management, Product Planning and Engineering to provide critical
guidance, based on data, at each stage of the design process, from product
conception to finished form. Our goal is to enhance the total end-user
experience of the product by understanding the physical, cognitive and
emotional needs and desires of our users. HUR staff comes from, and uses the
methods of, professional and academic areas including industrial design,
ergonomics, human computer interaction, biomechanics/physiology, human
factors, cognitive psychology, engineering, environmental design and
business.
Knowledge Worker Services
The Knowledge Worker Services team is creating an exciting new service that
provides document authoring, viewing, and information management for online
knowledge workers. We are designing cutting-edge HTML-based UI, portals, and
innovative ways of viewing users' information. Our usability team works
throughout the product cycle with program management and product designers
to ensure that our products and services meet users' needs. Our work
includes surveys to describe the product's target users, site visits and
analysis to understand users' requirements, lab studies to refine designs,
and a number of other techniques to understand user performance and
attitudes. Team members also are encouraged to develop a leadership role in
the greater usability community by presenting their work at industry
conferences and journals.
Office
Design and Usability is responsible for creating design solutions for Office
and Office Family products including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access,
FrontPage, PhotoDraw, Project, and Outlook. Usability Engineers work closely
with Product Designers throughout the development cycle to produce high
quality designs for users. Our work includes surveys to describe the user
population, field studies to understand the users work, lab studies to
refine designs, and a variety of other activities to explain user
performance, attitudes, and beliefs. Usability engineers typically work on
specific user activities such as collaboration, data analysis, everyday
tasks, and so on that involve several product teams.
Small Business Division
This usability team supports products that form a cohesive set of electronic
commerce and knowledge-worker services designed to meet the needs of small
and growing companies. Products supported by this division include
Publisher, a desktop publishing program that enables users to easily create
professional-looking marketing materials and bCentral, a portal site of web
services designed to help small businesses make the most of e-commerce and
web marketing. Our goal is to help the product teams meet their charter of
reducing the pain of doing standard small business tasks and making small
businesses more successful. To help the team achieve this goal, the
usability group supports all aspects of the design process by gathering data
that can be used to influence product design. Various techniques used to
gather this data include: field research to understand context of work,
surveys to understand the user population, lab studies to iterate and refine
designs.
Windows Desktop
The Windows Desktop usability group focuses on the user interface for
Microsoft Windows. We have responsibility for the Windows "shell": the
Desktop, Start Menu, Task Bar, Windows Explorer, Control Panels, and other
operating system UI that is used by Windows applications. We also have
responsibility for Internet Explorer's user interface. Windows has an
"everyone" audience so we interact with a very broad segment of the
population--anyone who uses Windows or might in the future. Building a
product with such a wide audience challenges our usability engineers to
employ a wide variety of laboratory, field, and survey methodologies.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ To receive HCI news, send the message: ~~
~~ "JOIN BCS-HCI your_firstname your_lastname" ~~
~~ to [log in to unmask] ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ Newsarchives: ~~
~~ http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/bcs-hci/ ~~
~~ archive.html ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ To join the British HCI Group, contact ~~
~~ [log in to unmask] ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|