Document to communicate results of a heuristic analysis based on personas developed for a NGO Volunteers Social Network. This application was developed by O&M for Cisco Internal Corporate Communications team. This analysis was part of a bigger usability analysis exercise for the web site prior to launch.

1. Human Network Effect - 3
Persona - fied

2. Prashant
Persona
Executive at a software firm. Is dedicated to getting ahead
and becoming an entrepreneur someday. He’s full of ideas
and dying to get a Venture Capitalist to fund his ideas. He
has a deep conscience and wishes to give back to society
in some way as well. He’s a bachelor living in Delhi with
room mates whom he’s very close to but pretty close to his
family which is in Kanpur. Has a girlfriend who doesn’t
understand him or his ideals. Demographics
30
Working in Delhi, but
Characteristics originally from Kanpur
•Dedicated and full of ideals Single,
Brother (33), Sister (25)
•Leadership qualities but needs a little push to get things
Graduate, MBA from IMT
done Ghaziabad
•Gets irritated with people who don’t agree with him
•Loves to get involved with new ideas, new initiatives

3. Situation
• He’s at work
• Logging in for the first time
• Has clicked on a banner and come in
• Office computer
• High bandwidth connection

4. Home screen
Problem: The music is
default on. If I’m surfing
in office, this is jarring for
the rest of the office to
hear as well as
embarrassing for me.
Solution: The music
should be off by default
with a button to switch
off if the user wants to
hear it.

5. Back path to home screen
The back path from the home screen leads directly to the music page. It should
lead logically to the map screen, the transition needs to be trapped so that the
user doesn’t have to see the intro animation again and again.

6. Map – hard to understand at one glance
Problem: The
boundaries on the map
are a little hard to place.
Solution: If the map was
political by default, it’ll be
more helpful to
understand and place
the location I’m looking
for.

7. Effect transition unclear
Problem: I have a lot of
distractions at work where I’m
browsing from. My attention is
centered on the icons when I’m
clicking on them so I miss the
transition of the pins from one
effect to another.
Solution: If the transition was
more clear, perhaps an animation
of the shifting pins or the pins
blink to another color and then
fade back to the original green
when they move, it will be clearer
to me and to everyone who clicks
on the various effects.

8. Connection Confusion
Problem: I saw the name of a
friend who I wanted to say hi to.
But I was not logged in. I tried
to comment on the wall. It
asked me to log in. When I
entered HN ID and password, it
told me I was not connected to
Shalin and could not post and it
didn’t log me in.
Solution: If a way forward is
not possible because of an
obstacle, show the user the
means to overcome the
obstacle as well i.e. If a
connection with Shalin is what
is needed, give him the means
to do so rather than show an
error with a dead end.

9. Another cryptic error
I clicked on the ‘Add
as friend’ link. It
asked me for
confirmation and then
showed me this error.
Whaaaaa???

10. Why does the session log me
out even when I’ve done –
‘Remember me’???

11. Landing page after login
Problem: The landing page
after login doesn’t say
anything
Solution: Let this be the
landing page after I login.
This page should ideally tell
me:
1) New action on all my
initiatives
2) If I’ve received any replies to
my discussions
3) If I’ve received any friend
requests
4) New messages
5) New comments
PERFECTO!!!

12. Home?
ALL home links should lead
here if the user is logged
in. They can lead to the
map screen when the
user is not logged in.

13. Empty mandatory field!!
This is a mandatory field and it does not get
filled up with the causes under the
effect I choose. BUG???

14. Mandatory field not indicated
This is a mandatory field and it is not
indicated as mandatory. It should
not be mandatory.
Also what about causes which do not
have a location? I tried to create a
cause which was worldwide.
Please read the content on the
screen shot. I could not create it in
a certain location.
There should be a radio button here
saying
- Nationwide
- Worldwide
- Location N/A

15. Advanced search
Why are keywords mandatory? If there are
other criteria, keywords should not be
mandatory. I may want to search for
something and I don’t remember a
keyword about the initiative. Or I may
just want to see a list of initiatives under
a cause

16. Advanced search
Why does the page re-load when an effect is chosen?
This is a finite textual list, why can’t it be
preloaded on the background of the page. Or even
brought from the server through XML and Ajax.
There’s no real reason for the page to reload. The
list of causes drop down should only appear when
a cause is chosen.

17. Sticky windows
These should disappear by
themselves when their work
is over. Have a button that
says ‘OK’ and give a 3 second
timer.

18. Page re-load
After I make the window
disappear by clicking
the cross, the page
doesn’t reload and it
still keeps asking me
to join.
If it is a direct join, the
page should re-load
and tell me I’m a
member and if it is a
join request, it should
say ‘Join request sent’

19. System feedback
Problem: When I click on
the ‘Confirm’ button, the
system goes and
fetches response from
the backend but it gives
no indication that it is
doing so. Therefore I
keep repeatedly clicking
and get this error.
Solution: The moment I
click on confirm, the
confirm button should
change color/become
disabled or a timer
should start showing
here

20. System feedback
Problem: When I click on
the ‘Submit’ button, the
system goes and
fetches response from
the backend but it gives
no indication that it is
doing so. Therefore I
keep repeatedly clicking
and get multiple posts.
Solution: The moment I
click on submit, the
button should change
color/become disabled
or a timer should start
showing here

21. Rest of the post?
Where is the rest of the
post? I can’t click on
the words to see it.
The words should be
visible fully. At least
the post which I have
posted right now
should be.
The words should be
clickable if you can’t
fit the rest of the post
here.
HOW DO I SEE IT
ANYWAY?

22. Misleading language
Should say
‘Please confirm that you would like to join the group
‘Sudhiksha’’
Group? Initiative? What’s the difference?

23. Double meanings?
Why are there two links which say the same thing
but in two different phrases. It is essential for
consistency that connections be called either
‘Connections’ or ‘Friends’.
EVERY WHERE ON THE SITE

24. How do I post?
Most recent X comments on this post should be shown below the post. Post
comment should be shown on top of the post as well as the bottom of the post.