EPSS Revisited: A Lifecycle for Developing Performance-Centered Systems

Rating:
Summary: A good, recent collection of articles on EPSS / PCD
Review: EPSS Revisited is the most comprehensive and recent collection of articles on electronic performance support (EPSS) and performance centered design (PCD) available today. The collection was solicited from the key practitioners and thought leaders from the many disciplines that comprise EPSS/PCD, including cognitive science, knowledge management, usability engineering, learning technology, user-centered design, quality/six-sigma and information engineering.

Authors span the globe from business, government and academia. Examples and case studies are provided from organizations such as IBM, Staples, Social Security Administration, Payless Shoes, Nokia, and a number of European manufacturers. Thought leaders such as Donald Norman, Gloria Gery, Stanley Malcolm, Barry Raybould, Douglas Weidner, Marc Rosenberg, Burt Huber, Duane Degler, Lisa Battle, Michael Feldstein and Janet Cichelli share their thoughts in articles, interviews, discussions and case studies. Other contributors are simply very good practitioners who have advocated and successfully implemented EPSS/PCD.

The true value of this book is the broad spectrum of topics that cross both the diverse disciplines of PCD and its development lifecycle. Each article includes a facet of identifying business needs, creating process models, creating diversity models, information and knowledge engineering, creating representations, developing interactions and interfaces, developing, evaluating and deploying.

On the other hand, this book is not a systematic methodology or "how to" for EPSS/PCD, but shows how best practices of the constituent disciplines come together to ensure performance. In simple terms, competency and performance are as much about creating work environments that are simple and effective as they are about raising skill, knowledge and abilities. EPSS Revisited shows how work process, human preferences, and information engineering can be brought together to form "the performance zone," in concrete terms.

Clearly, another book should follow that delineates and details an "ADDIE" (analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation) process for EPSS/PCD. But for now, EPSS Revisited is a terrific first step toward embracing such a process in the mainstream.