Software

"One of the reasons I think that RAM turned out well is because we used the tool as we were developing it. Because of that, we were able to quickly find problems that would have otherwise had to wait for usability testing. It also help everyone with the big picture because while they might not have been working on a functionality, they were familiar with it."

-- Heather Frantz, User Experience Practitioner

"The team lead, Dr. Gili Mendel, was focused on ensuring that this product benefitted from the expertise of a User Experience and Design team. But it was important to build a culture within the team, to ensure that the usability and design team's vision was implemented in the product. Subsequently we found ourselves with an intensely proactive development, information development, and test team, who were responsive and as dedicated to developing a delightful user experience as the User Experience and Design team. Working on the product was especially wonderful and rewarding because of the personalities associated with it. In the end there were three sets of eyes that review the user interface and experience: a User Experience practitioner, a Visual Designer, and a developer who specializes in implementing the user interface. Problems were tackled by this team and with the component owner to ensure a smooth and simple user experience overall."

-- Janet Mockler, Visual Designer

"From the very first release Rational Asset Manager was impressing our customers. Many of our customers were surprised when I told them it was the first release of the product given how functional the product was. I often get compliments regarding how well thought out the product is for providing both business and technical users the ability to create, search, collaborate, and govern assets."

-- Carlos Ferreira, Product Manager

"... the one (quote) that sums my thinking:.... 'it is about the green thread (use case thread), stupid.'"

-- Gili Mendel, Development Manager

"One of the things that made RAM usable was our constant iteration on the user interface.  No one should get too attached to any user interface; accept that your work will change.  Wireframes, designs, demos, and implementations all allow people in the team to rethink the approach.  Constraints will be added and removed.  Normally when constraints are removed, better user interface is possible."

-- Matt Vestal, Lead User Interface Developer

The extended RAM team

The extended RAM team included the following individuals: Peter Walker * Jonathan Stinton * Rajasimhan A Mandayam * Rich Kulp * Srimanth Gunturi * Eric Bordeau * Richard A Bone * Kevin Bauer * Sheehan Anderson * Saurabh Agarwal