{b}It’s the UX Stupid{/b}
I’d like to pitch the idea that what needs to happen is legal tech vendors start addressing the user experience (UX) of their software. Far too much of it still has a clunky, user-unfriendly interface that looks like something from the early days of Microsoft Windows (which is 30 years ago now) with endless non-intuitive menus.
Vendors say users would get more benefit and a better RoI from software if they bothered to adequately train on it and upgraded to the latest versions with all the latest functionality. But this is missing the point: if the end-user has the legal practice skills to do their job, then it is not unreasonable for them to expect that any software they run will complement these skills and not require mastery of another set of skills, namely learning how to use the software that is meant to be helping them! As for not upgrading to the latest version, who can blame law firms and legal departments as it will inevitably require more training and rollout issues?
The most widely used application on the planet is Facebook but nobody needs to go on a three-day training course to use it, nor a help-desk for ongoing support! As for upgrades, Facebook roll out revisions approximately once every fortnight but the world doesn’t grind to a halt. Why? Because mobile phone apps and social media-type applications like Facebook and Dropbox focus on the UX so there is no need for training and support. It’s the UX stupid.
{b}Charles Christian, Editor-at-Large, Legal Insider{/b}
