Getting a whole new perspective with Usability

As I delve deeper into Usability and User Experience (UX) research, my perspective towards web development and design drastically changed. It gave me an entirely different paradigm on development approaches - its strategies and techniques - on how to deliver a website where users can be truly satisfied.

Usability is akin to the ISO 9001 certification where quality and customer satisfaction is a requirement. I totally understand those terms as my current employer [my full-time job] is certified in 3 ISO certifications and where our quality policy evolves entirely on our customers. So the term "Usability" is really something big now that I need to incorporate it in my development processes to give me an edge.

So what impacts it has on me are:

• the ability to see my clients' needs better by getting all vital information in all aspects if the project - audience, technology, goals, marketing plans, etc. 
• coming up with proposals that are sensitive to the client's budget and goals.
  
• better communication presentation.
• a more satisfactory result through constant usability tests.
• putting more value through branding and better online marketing strategies.

As you can see, a plain developer's perspective would be simply to comply with what users want without tackling the values that the clients really want. When you learn the essence of Usability and User Experience, you are gearing towards a much higher rank that is more of managing project success. The path is indeed difficult but the results are worth it.