[Ovmsdev] How can I help

Robert Sharpe (Electric Vehicle Consultant) robert.sharpe at evergreen-consulting.co.uk
Sat Jan 5 02:05:15 HKT 2019


Hi Michael,



Thanks for your excellent points.



In terms of suggested actions does the following accurately summarise your thoughts (with redline changes) summary?




User Definition

a general household DIY capable person.

can mount and plug things into the vehicle

will only read

a single quick install sheet

a list of text commands

maybe 3 min youTube videos


cant

create connectors/leads

modify the OVMS hardware

don't know about internal or technical terms, such as               Nissan Leaf GIDs, WiFi SSID, etc



User Expectations

the unit fully supports the listed features under all             reasonable conditions

reliable in operation

error messages are non-technical and help the user solve             the problem

should be plug-n-play where possible, eg

automatically detects vehicle type and year

automatically detects battery capacity, etc







           Rename User Manual to "Advanced User Manual"



           Advanced User Definition

can

create connectors/leads

modify the OVMS hardware (eg add wake-up hardware)

modifying car at module level (eg remove TCU on Leaf)

knows internal or technical terms, such as               Nissan Leaf GIDs, WiFi SSID, etc



Advanced User Expectations

to easily access detailed reasons why a feature doesn't work and possible workarounds








Rob



--- On Fri, 04 Jan 2019 14:13:43 +0000 Michael Balzer <mailto:dexter at expeedo.de> wrote ----




Rob,



maybe I'm too pessimistic (realistic?), but if you're targeting     users within that category, your spec lacks "doesn't like reading     manuals or searching the web for answers" and "likes watching short     videos", so working on the manual with these users in mind is     futile.



My last App support: the App told the user it can't connect to the     server, he should verify the server address and vehicle ID. I sent     him the data he should use. He insisted in having entered exactly     that. After four or five mails I finally got him to send me this     "screenshot":









Many current users (even v2 users) I have supported fit into that     category, none of them would (could) read anything longer than a few     sentences. The manual introduction section is already too much for     them, they normally just jump into using the system and they     normally fail at things like entering a server name or password     correctly.



Of course we should generally try to further simplify the UIs, e.g.     provide a select option for the standard servers and an account     registration API.



But the manual IMO is meant for the capable / advanced user trying     to get specific jobs done with the system.



For the "low end" user target, a single (!) page "first setup" sheet     is needed, and a series of 3 minute feature introduction videos on     Youtube.



Regards,

Michael







Am 03.01.19 um 16:05 schrieb Robert       Sharpe (Electric Vehicle Consultant):





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Hi Mark/All,



Sometime ago I did lots of obvious updates of the User           Manual to help readability, etc as a first stab.



Now doing a second stab, there is one thing that has come           to light and that is the definition of a user.



In order to check the documentation I need to know what the           user is capable of off.  I appreciate that the definition of           user has probably changed over the development of the project           and the product has matured enough that it can be operated by           non-technical users opening up its usefulness.  



Assuming that what were the original users would how fall           into the category of Developers, does the following draft           specification accurately reflect the minimum capabilities of a           current/future User?



User Definition

a general household DIY capable person.

can mount and plug things into the vehicle

cant

create connectors/leads

modify the OVMS hardware

don't know about internal or technical terms, such as               Nissan Leaf GIDs, WiFi SSID, etc



User Expectations

the unit fully supports the listed features under all             reasonable conditions

reliable in operation

error messages are non-technical and help the user solve             the problem

should be plug-n-play where possible, eg

automatically detects vehicle type and year

automatically detects battery capacity, etc



Please let me know if this is accurate or what           changes/clarifications need to be made.



Rob





--- On Tue, 07 Aug 2018 03:30:33 +0100 Mark                 Webb-Johnson <mailto:mark at webb-johnson.net> wrote ----




Robert,



Thanks for the offer to help out.



Perhaps you can look at it from the user’s                 point of view, and try to improve our documentation and                 approach for that?



Regards, Mark.



On 3 Aug 2018, at 4:01 PM, Robert                       Sharpe (Electric Vehicle Consultant) <mailto:robert.sharpe at evergreen-consulting.co.uk>                       wrote:



Hi All,



I like where OVMS project is                             going and would like to help if I can.



Where I can possibly add value                             is

make things easy for people to                               use (eg documentation, etc)

experienced on UI/UX design,                               etc.

as an ex developer, good at                               testing and finding problems.


Some initial thoughts on                             activities are

to make it easier for non                               technical people to use OVMS, help doc                               author pull out user only specific content                               to a user manual and make it non-technical                               (renaming current user manual to                               developers manual) 

to help people see roadmap,                               provide a mechanism to see who wants what                               and who is working on it.

to allow developers and users                               to display problems with their vehicle                               only, add Labels to the github issues list                               or group by project (I am not an expert on                               GITHUB so please be patient)

update GITHUB readmes to better                               direct people that find GITHUB first.


Please

let me know if anyone is                               dealing with any of these areas

add and/or vote for what things                               you think I can help with by putting a                               comment next to the activity above.


Regards,
 Robert Sharpe
 Electric Vehicle Consultant
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