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My internship Experience-2
80/20 Rule and Cost-benefit Principle
I have learnt the 80/20 Rule before, which states that for many events, 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes. I understand that it is an important principle for the business. But never have I realized its significance in design until recently. After several A&D meetings, I started to find out that people here judge if one design is reasonable by 80/20 Rule, too. This is the first phase of the project and hence, our main goal is to achieve the functions that most people will be using even if it’s just 20% of the total functions that will be available in the final stage. Whenever we are proposing a design idea, several questions will be asked: first of all, does it meet the 80/20 Rule, is it a must for 80% of the users or just a “nice-to have”? Secondly, is it technically feasible, meaning will it cause a dramatic change in current database structure? And the last one, if it means a reform in current database structure, does its benefit overweigh the cost of the changes we will have to make? We, the usability architects have to consider the questions above every time we come up with a design idea.
Posted by chanwei at October 15, 2007 02:45 PM
