Prompt·Architecture and hidden complexity·A08
Screens that fight how people work
Finds when confusing screens are a symptom of how the product is organised rather than a list of separate bugs.
Prompt
Map this application's pages, navigation and URLs against the jobs its users actually do. Find pages that should merge, become a tab or panel, or go away; navigation systems that compete for the same destinations; and jobs users have to assemble by hand across screens. Say whether the structure itself causes the problems, and if it does, name the end state it should reach.
- What it returns
- A verdict per page (keep, merge, demote, retire) with the evidence for each, the two to five causes behind the symptoms, and today's site map next to the proposed one.
- Skip it when
- Products with a handful of pages, or right after a navigation redesign nobody has used yet.
- Changes
- Changes nothing
- Sessions
- Look first, then fix in a new session
- Tools
- Repository; the app running locally with test accounts for the browser checks.
- Watch for
- Agents propose a redesign for every complaint. Ask whether one structural cause explains two or more findings; if none does, the structure is sound and the fixes are local.
- Also called
- Structure that fights the users' work
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