Generally, I use spreadsheets to track user research information during an iteration of our product (which is typically about 4 weeks between releases). However, this method doesnt scale well to long-term needs. In particular, what happens if I find out some information that I know will be relevant 6 months from now, but wont be relevant until then?
Whats needed is some sort of database solution. The drawback with any database driven solution is that you lose a lot of the spontaneity that you can have with a spreadsheet. However, I think its the next step for us here at Angelsoft. Ill be posting here as I consider our options. From a quick Google search I didnt see anything primarily for the usability and user experience design community, so I may consider rolling out something from scratch.
Someone from class wanted to know if there were any specific chapters to read from Research Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines.
The answer is, no there are no specific chapters you must read. You can browse through it and read what is interesting to you. It’s a thick book, but it has a great design that makes it much more amenable to browsing as opposed to cover-to-cover reading. My objective is that you become aware of this book as a resource, and I suggest you pick it up again from time to time. You’ll find that different parts of the book will be applicable to your work as you work on different projects.