Effective Prototyping with Excel

A Practical Handbook for Developers and Designers

Nevin Berger,Michael Arent,Jonathan Arnowitz,Fred Sampson

• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9780080916712
• Topic: Informatik
• Subtopic: Human-Computer-Interaktion

Although recognized as a key to the design process, prototyping often falls victim to budget cuts, deadlines, or lack of access to sophisticated tools. This can lead to sloppy and ineffective prototypes or the abandonment of them altogether. Rather than lose this important step, people are turning to Microsoft Excel® to create effective, simple, and inexpensive prototypes. Conveniently, the software is available to nearly everyone, and most are proficient in its basic functionality.

Effective Prototyping with Excel offers how-to guidance on how everyone can use basic Excel skills to create prototypes – ranging from narrative wire frames to hi-fidelity prototypes. A wide array of software design problems and business demands are solved via practical step-by-step examples and illustrations.

• Step-by-step guide to prototyping with a simple and affordable tool nearly everyone already has on their desktop
• Quickly and easily allows web and software designers to explore usability, design alternatives, and test theories prior to starting production
• Perfect companion to Effective Prototyping for Software Makers – with the same author team and full-color treatment, useful case studies, and hands-on exercises

Chapter 1. A Developer's Dilemma

In this chapter you will learn

▪ A case study

▪ The benefits of using Excel^® for prototyping

▪ The productivity and collaboration opportunities

▪ Our goal in creating this book

Note

If you are eager to dive immediately into Excel prototyping, skip ahead to the “How to create your first Excel prototype” section of Chapter 2, on page 16.

A Case Study

In an unnamed software company, long ago and far away, a developer learned that his product was going to have little access to the company's user interface design resources. This meant that he received no help with the design—only random, ad hoc advice from product stakeholders. The developer was concerned about his product's usability. He did not want to see his efficient coding wasted on a less than optimal user interface design. He heard that some user interface designers had set up a stealth prototyping service to assist developers who needed some unscheduled and unbudgeted help. How such a thing was possible he didn't know or care; he needed their help.

In desperation the developer went to the designers' Friday office hours. He thought he would need a whole day to mock up a prototype based on the functional requirements he had received. He was disappointed to hear that he would have only an hour of the designers' time and could not imagine that he might walk away with anything that resembled a codeable prototype.

At the prototyping office, the two designers explained that they would develop the prototype together; he would get enough direction so that he could do the rest himself. He could not believe it, but what could he do? He did not know any prototyping tools, nor did he have the skills to use such tools.

Much to his surprise, the designers opened Microsoft Excel and used a template file to implement his designs. The file looked like nothing he had ever seen in Excel before. The spreadsheet grid was changed into a layout grid, and the worksheets resembled software window layouts rather than spreadsheets. He learned in the session how, by using only copy and paste commands, the designers could quickly create his basic window layout. In fact, within the hour the two designers finished the work he needed and gave him an Excel file with his designs.

Back at his own office, the developer was satisfied with the results until he realized that there were some functions that had been neglected. At first he thought he had to wait until the next Friday for another appointment with the designers. But when he opened the Excel file and realized that, because he had used Excel before to create spreadsheets, he was very familiar with the software's features. With no more training than that short session with the designers, he started to add the missing functionality.

Within the Excel file he found worksheets with the widgets and buttons he needed and even a worksheet of instructions. He found it easy to copy buttons and to add fields and text. He made a few mistakes, but Ctrl-Z always undid them. In fact, he learned, as with normal Excel use, that Ctrl-Z undid and Ctrl-Y redid multiple steps. This allowed him to make changes, back up, and go forward to compare his changes before committing to them. No one taught him this prototyping technique; he stumbled on it by exploring the skills he had already learned with Excel for creating spreadsheets.

After what he thought of as playing around, he realized that he had put the finishing touches on his prototype and had something to show product management. Without thinking about it, the developer became an Excel prototyper and had produced a good enough prototype of his application screens within an hour.

This book will share with you this developer's experience with the simplicity and ease of Excel prototyping. Having worked in many companies and seen how using Excel as a prototyping tool helped designers, developers, and product managers better express their requirements, we feel that we have the experience with Excel prototyping to empower you as well.

Introduction

This book is about how to prototype with Excel (or another spreadsheet application with similar functionality).

This book will also touch lightly on the larger topic of prototyping. Although the book does not attempt to completely cover the topic of prototyping, it will discuss prototyping as it relates to prototyping with Excel. For a comprehensive discussion on prototyping, we refer the reader to our first book, Effective Prototyping for Software Makers.

Excel is an amazing prototyping tool. It is amazing because it is the only tool we know that combines these advantages into a single tool:

▪ Prototyping flexibility

▪ Efficiency and ease of use

▪ Professional results

▪ No special skills required

▪ Readily available

Excel Prototyping

“Using Excel for prototyping? I don't get it!”

This is a common reaction from people when we first try to describe prototyping with Excel. The concept is far from what you use Excel for in your daily work. For some it is like claiming that their washing machine can mow the lawn. People cannot visualize how it can be done until they see it.

When you look at Excel, you probably just see a spreadsheet; you just can't think outside the table cell. To understand Excel as a prototyping tool, you will have to step out of the mental model that says Excel is only a spreadsheet application. This book will show you how.

Prototyping Flexibility

As a prototyping...