Institution-focussed design - the follow up

I've moved house. That's my excuse. Let's move on.

Last time I blogged, all those weeks ago, I'd had a rough couple of days interacting with a world based on insitutions, rather than on users.

Example 1 - A simple game of squash

I live near the borough of Stockport (south-east Manchester) and I fancied a game of squash. Now, in the UK, there are lots of public leisure centres where you can swim, play racquet sports, and so on. These are run by councils, so I went to the website of the council (http://www.stockport.gov.uk/) to find out where I go to play squash.

This will be easier to understand if you go along with me. Go on — open up Stockport's website. (Hopefuly, but the time you read this, they'll have fixed all this and you'll have to guess what it was once like. As of today, it's still the same).

Now - what would you click to find out the location of squash courts? I clicked "Leisure and Culture". And fantastic — "Stockport has an abundance of leisure and culture activities. Discover what's on offer from the categories below." — I'm a couple of clicks away from squash.

Right, what next — "Parks and recreation"? Or "Sports". Let's go with "Parks and recreation". Then "Where to Play". Going well! Next, choose from:

• Bowling (No)
• Skate parks (No)
• Basketball (No)
• Tennis courts (Close, but no)
• Other sports (Let's try)

Other sports leads me to 5-a-side, Archery, Netball, Orienteering, and Petanque. Petanque! But, thankfully, this text is at the bottom: "If you cannot find what you are looking for please contact Parks and Recreation - see 'Related Contacts' located on the right." And if you click this? You get an address, phone number, and e-mail address. Sheesh! I only want to play squash!

To cut a long story short, I needed to click "Sports". And then "Health and Exercise". Erm . .no, sorry, "Sports Facilities". Here, finally, you get a list of leisure centres. But, crucially, no indication of whether you can play squash there. And why? Because "these premises are run and managed by Stockport Sport Trust for Stockport Council." And Stockport Sport Trust have their own website (http://www.sportinstockport.com/)!

But once you find there website it's easy to find where you can play squash, right? Alas, no. But it is possible.

The problems here are twofold:

• Too many links that are ambiguous from the user's point of view but lead to different, discrete places, without enough context to choose between them.
• The council have separated some activities from the main organisation, which has resulted in apparent inconsistencies (tennis vs. squash?). There may be good business reasons for doing so, but it is both confusing and inconsequential to users.

It seems to me that Stockport Council, in common with many organisations, have structured their website not according to user needs, but according to internal bureaucratic structures. This is not good enough.

Example 2 - Attending a hospital appointment

This was a really good information design, information architecture, and taxonomy case study. It would have been better if I didn't have to try and make it to the right place at the right time, but there you go.

I was invited to the "TDC" reception area, via the "Main Outpatients". Fair enough. This is what I do:

1. Arrive at the hospital site, with 20 minutes to go till my appointment
2. Look at a map near the site entrance to find "Main Outpatients"
3. Walk from my current location to Main Outpatients.
4. Follow the signs for "TDC".
5. Check-in for my appointment 10 minutes in advance.

But obviously, because I'm writing this, that's not what happened. Steps 1 and 2 go to plan. Unfortunately, "Main Outpatients" does not appear on the map. The areas of the hospital are usefully colour-coded, but I do not have any information about the colour of Main Outpatients.

Instead, I look for a large entrance and walk there. This turns out to be quite a long walk, all round the outside of the hospital. At A&E (our version of ER) I go in and ask. I'm told to enter at the next external door along. Entering there, I see an enormous signpost board. Neither Main Outpatients nor TDC appear on the board. I ask again, and am told to enter at a further external door.

Entering there, I follow signs for Main Outpatients. Hooray!! Then, the signs run out. So I ask at a desk. The man there confirms that I'm in Main Outpatients, but does not know the location of TDC. His colleague, when she becomes free, does, and directs me about 10 metres around the corner. There is never a sign saying "TDC".

I arrive, very annoyed and a little sweaty, five minutes late for my appointment.

Interestingly, the next appointment card I receive gives me instructions to follow the red line on the floor. Alas, although there was a red line at the time of my first appointment, re-laying of the floor has since occurred, removing the red line...

More interestingly, I spotted a sign behind the final enquiry desk that I'd visited. The hospital were undergoing a review of the names of departments — acknowledging that the names used within the hospital did not always match the "official" names, and further that patients understanding of their conditions often matched neither, making it very difficult for them to find their way. I, in case you're wondering, was going for a consultation on wisdom teeth.

This example, to me, shares much with that of the council. Again, the structure of the organisation is dictating the user's experience. The naming of areas within the hospital suits the hospital and not the patients. And crucially, the names used in departments of the hospital do not match those used by the organisation as a whole — which is the probable cause of my appointment card giving instructions that were virtually impossible to follow.

A cause for optimism is that it's clear that this problem — which no doubt manifests itself in many ways — has been identified and is being addressed.

Conclusion

Organisations need to focus on what their users are trying to do, and the language they speak, not on internal departments and structures.