Most recent vs Most used [closed]

Question

We are building a business application (a laboratory management system to be more precise) mostly for internal company use only. To make it easier for users to find items which they work on we are implementing a list of most used items.

We had a little debate on which method would be better to implement: display the most recent vs display the most used.

My arguments on most-recent

• A little bit easier to implement. I think this is worth to mention because we are dealing with business application which will be sold as a single copy, so this may directly effect application price. Also simpler implementation means less code and may effect maintenance code.
  • Counterargument: difference in implementation difficulty in this case is too small
• It is easier for users to guess what will they find in this list so they know if it is worth to look at the list at all.
• Items which were relative yesterday and used a lot might not be relevant today and in recent item list they quickly disappear.

My arguments on most-used

• Actually it is quite easy to display a mixed version of recently-used and most-used by combining last access date and a number of access something like this (today - lastaccess) * number_of_access
  • Counterargument: this requires fine-tuning

What arguments would you give for one or another?

Answer 1

This might be down voted for not answering your question directly, but the debate you had with your colleague was a waste of time.

You should have spoken to 3 (mid level, hands on) lab technicians - given them the two options and asked them what they would do.

Answer 2

Do both. Instead of a simple list, have an "Open Recent" command that opens a page or dialog or window or whatever fits in your design. On that page you can then have two sections, one for most recent and another for most used. Or, a radiobutton that toggles between the two. This gives each user the power to choose.

Regardless, instead of asking strangers who have no idea what your actual users are like, ask your actual users. Hallway usability testing goes a long way.

Answer 3

Apart from asking your end users, I'd go with most used in the last x days. But this takes a bit more work as you have to keep a history.

Answer 4

Your end users or customer(s) should define expected features and use cases.

However, if there is no such requirement/preference, i would implement most easiest (also fastest) option first and start to collect customer/tester feedback for most wanted features. I would Log them and implement them in defined priorities by customer/planning.

Answer 5

Look how the answers are ordered here. You have three options:
- active _ most recent
- oldest
- votes _ most actively "used"

And this is the best decision ever. I'm sure that instead of spending your time on debating (and posting this question and reading the answers) you could have already implemented the easiest way, which is in this case (according to you) most recent items.

I wouldn't say that implementing the easiest way and then letting the users judge is a good idea: many companies have failed with such a strategy. So if you don't have enough resources for both, do as Jonno suggests.

Answer 6

Why not simply allow the user to bookmark whatever links they want and to be able to sort/group them. Unless you are going to some kind of analysis, there is no point in maintaining frequent/recent usage statistics per user.

Any kind of smartness shown by applications usually gets in the way. Just because it is cool to implement, does not mean it is fun to use.

Deep pocket guys like microsoft and google do real usability studies, and they give you ways to both clear and turn off MRU lists. So if you implement recent/frequent lists, you should also implement clearing them and disabling them.