I bring this perspective to everyday life: did I try to enter a room using the wrong door? Can I read the ATM or gas pump message given sun glare? How hard did I have to look in the rental car for various controls over windows, trunk release, driver seat adjustments, etc.? Do I need to refer to written instructions in order to operate an appliance? There are a couple of books that inspired my own research efforts during the late 80's/early 90's: Donald Norman's The Psychology [Design] of Everyday Things and John Carroll's Nurnberg Funnel, a minimalist, experiential approach to learning. I also extensively referenced the work of an applied psychologist Patricia Wright, whom demonstrated, among other things, human performance issues in coping with fragmented data sources.
Individual differences also play a difference. For example,a menu-based "training wheel" interface may appeal to the novice user, but it can turn off the more expert user. It's like when I drove to my sister's house the first time and slowed near every intersection (pre-GPS); I had impatient drivers behind me whom knew exactly where they are going.
I mentioned in an earlier post I was the corporate DBA for the American subsidiary of a Japanese manufacturer of computer chip testing equipment, Oracle published the ERP software we were using. Oracle was no longer supporting the character mode (similar to the old keystroke-oriented PC-DOS applications) in favor of its GUI interfaces. The accountants hated Oracle's GUI interface with a passion because it was slower drilling through the windows (there were other technical factors involving server security). I was pushing for Oracle's standard, because our maintenance agreement required it. I remember an intimidating 6-foot receivables clerk tell her boss she could work through her backlog if he would allow her to fall back to using the old interface.
So this is the context for renewing/reapplying for my passport. I had one during the time Dad was stationed in Europe and I was in fifth grade. I was upset my Dad's tour got cut short. Sixth grade had this program where they went to the Alps and it was like half day of school and half day of skiing. And the sixth-graders rubbed our noses in it when they got back. I don't recall my needing a passport to go to a bullfight in Nuevo Laredo. And I didn't need one as a UTEP professor years later when a Latino colleague took me and another professor to a delightful Juarez restaurant for lunch.
I do recall the hassle of getting a passport and Brazilian work visa in 1995 for a Citibank credit card subsidiary in São Paulo. It almost turned out to be more than that; my project manager told me he could get me a six-figure offer there (considerably more than I was making at the time). Every once in a while I would get unsolicited queries about opportunities overseas (Canada, Mexico, England and Iraq immediately come to mind). For the most part, I've taken a pass; my folks are older. But I underestimated the utter economic imbecility of Barack "we cannot afford to do nothing" Obama whom has the uncanny ability to do the exact opposite of what he should. It'a a testament to the resiliency of the US economy that it has withstood even the counterproductive Obama economic tsunami.
So I set my sight on renewing my passport which expired in 2005. Would it be more like resuming my fitness club membership (after living in an area with no local affiliates) or reapplying from scratch like I had to do the last 2 times I had a background check to work as a federal contractor (with time period overlap). Federal agencies notoriously don't recognize each others' background checks (e.g., I had a boss with DoD clearance, but he had to get a new one for USPTO). I've been told behind the scenes they don't reinvent the wheel, but the pencil-pushing bureaucrats insist on filling out tediously detailed work experience background sheets. Never mind dealing with former employers or clients whom are no longer in business, have merged with other companies, etc. (at least 3 or 4 in my case). I've lost at least 3 contract opportunities because contractors and/or clients (in my case, SSA, DHS, and DoD) wanted already-cleared candidates (I also believe the background checks are very expensive): you don't get to the interview stage. This is obviously insane--probably most of my clients from 2004-2010 were federal agencies. You might think that's something highly desirable to a federal IT manager (it would be comparably in the private sector).
I thus would not not be surprised by having to reapply from scratch; I also remember in past posts I covered a story of an older barber whom hadn't promptly paid his license renewal and to get his license reinstated, he would have to re-qualify from scratch which made no sense given his decades in the business and an existing customer base.
I knew my old post office (actually closer and bigger) listed passport services, not to mention some of the clerk stations sold passport wallets on display. I went out to the relevant government website. You might think (but you would be wrong) they would have some common sense things like you would find on any reasonable commercial website--say, for example, a logical flowchart (e.g., "have you ever previously applied for a passport"), downloadable pdf forms, an overview of the passport application process, integrated application filing/appointment scheduling, zip code based passport services, etc.
I was able to find the last item; I did find my old post office and found a vague reference to appointments. My frame of reference was prior public trust applications. Quite often the government offices would process the paperwork--which would also require taking fingerprints--during certain weekly time slots, more like cattle calls, not individual appointments.
At some point I'm on the website and click on the passport fees tab; of all things, I get a webpage error. I find a link to submit any website issues. (I then locate some other webpage (not government)). A day or two I get a boilerplate reply from the website explaining more hoops to jump through to report the website problem! Expletive deleted at the overpaid pencil-pushing bureaucrat whom is too lazy to refer the issue on his own initiative; none of these "professionals" would have passed my ISU human factors in IS class. I already made a good faith effort to report the problem. I knew the fees--I was trying to help other people. But I don't work for the State Department. I don't give consulting advice away for free.
I go to the post office. I scan various customer forms etc while standing in line for maybe a half hour. I finally advance to the clerk's window: she describes the process as "do-it-yourself" and doesn't say a word about making an appointment; I brought my expired passport with me; she asked me when my passport was issued; I said 1995. She said, "Uh-oh. I think you have to reapply from scratch." and gave me 2 forms. I naturally assume the application is self-contained, e.g., a mailing address for the completed application.
I discover I have to indeed fill the long form; no information on what to do with the completed form.. You have to hope they don't have to re-validate my and my parents' US citizenship, but this is the federal government. I fill out the form and notice a blank for a current photo. I do a search for passport picture services. I notice a My UPS store on the way to the USPS advertises passport photo services. I stop by. After several minutes, they come back and say they can't do it--their printer ink cartridge is too low; I ask for an alternative referral; they tell me the USPS.
So I continue to the Post Office and after waiting again finally advance to the window. I'm not sure what to expect; maybe she pulls out a mailing envelope; double checks the form for completeness and charges me a fee; she tells me that I have to make an appointment to file the application; I can't do it now. (Note the USPS office did not have a posted contact number for appointments.) She told me the closest appointment was a week away. And get this--she came back with a paper wire-bound notebook to write in my appointment, just a coffee spill away from chaos.. Talk about lack of automation! I had students 20 years ago writing more sophisticated applications!
My application is a few days off. I realize other people have had worse federal bureaucratic problems. (Just wait for me to rant about federal tax forms, which are monuments to poor usability: there are times I want to scream "Just tell me what you're trying to do." It can get exasperating even for a guy with 2 math degrees and a PhD accounting minor. I'm sure my CPA baby sister makes some good income feeding off institutional masochism.) I don't know If Norman or other behavioral researchers have tacked design problems with government interfaces, but this is one example of an informal usability assessment.
ed. 11/15/12 Here is a follow-up from my 11/14 post:
But just to follow-up: my appointment was today. What I didn't realize was that the applications were done at a dedicated station. I thought maybe someone emerged from a back office at the appointment time; here's a hint, USPS--if you have week long waiting periods, you open up new lines--and/or you identify a clerk station, e.g., "Passport appointments serviced here" (I went to a different line.) There was a couple being serviced during my appointment time.
Now to explain the next piece I almost never do snail mail or cash transactions (beyond auto tolls, haircuts, occasional greeting cards, etc.) And there are no posted fees for related transactions. I never carry $150 in cash, and I hadn't realized until recently my debit card had expired. I think that some places (maybe the state of Maryland) will accept credit cards with an additional service fee. I usually carry one or two checks in my wallet and briefly unsuccessfully looking for my checkbook before leaving this morning. The bottom line is when the clerk got to the point of the $110 State Department fee, she would only accept a debit card, check or cash; that may be USPS and/or State Dept policy, but payment specifics (fees and methods of payment) should have been printed on the application and/or attached to the form. I had no alternative but to go home and look for blank checks. I lost my appointment/place in line.
I decided to bring 2 checks "just in case". When I returned I was told I would have to wait while she processed an Asian family of 6, which seemed to go on for another 20-30 minutes.. It's a good thing I brought 2 checks because apparently they don't do agency transfers and I only got a receipt for the ancillary $40 in post office charges. Plus there's an extra fee if you need the passport earlier than the 4-6 week period (even thought she attached my original 17-year passport).
To be fair bureaucracy occurs in any large organization. For example, I once did a gig for a well-known credit card company in the St. Louis area where during the entire gig (over 3 weeks), I never got access to a network account or voice mail. because of the former, I had to work at a distant workstation; any phone calls (including from Oracle support) went into inaccessible voice mail; Oracle escalated the fact I wasn't returning their calls, which of course the client blamed on me.
Large organizations are not focused on consumer time and effort. I'm different from most DBA's because first of all I listen to my users (their diagnoses are typically off base-the database is frequently scapegoated for coding or network problems, but I never argue that they are not experiencing a problem); you would be surprised how many clueless idiots will say something like "You're the first person ever to experience this problem." Many people won't report problems precisely because they don't want to deal with idiots. I also do follow-ups with users to ensure their issues have been resolved.
One of the reasons I love Mitch Daniels is because he's anal-retentive about user-based metrics-e.g., average wait times at the DMV. In what I have explained about dealing with a simple passport extension is the Procrustean approach--I have to accommodate bureaucracy-oriented processes--it isn't oriented to user performance and satisfaction.
