Whilst setting up the blog, I was using Wordpress for the first time. It was beautifully easy. As I was reading the excellent
First steps with Wordpress, I was particularly impressed with the section on planning. It’s like a cut down, potted version of the work we do to establish a user experience strategy for a site. We work with the client to establish their aims for the website (or application), who their users are and what they might want. Ideally we’ll then spend time talking to some real users, finding out more about them and their aims, attitudes and behaviours.
The Wordpress ‘Planning Session’ encourages new blog writers to step away from their computers, grab a pen and paper and think about what they’re trying to do with the blog, who their users are and what they want then record this (thus effectively creating a strategy document). It’s a brilliant demonstration that user experience techniques don’t have to be long and drawn out (and hence expensive). As with hallway usability testing, there are often cheaper options which will yield a better end user experience than doing nothing at all and just designing your site for yourself.