Case Study 2 - Video Editing

WorldTech conducted an experiment to see how much time computer users can save by using a combination of shortcut commands as opposed to only using the computer mouse. A scenario was repeated several times using both methods. We found that using the combined keyboard shortcuts and mouse method consistently outperforms using the computer mouse alone method.

The chart below shows the times it took for the user to complete the same scenario using the two different methods. The scenario was repeated eight times. (See scenario description below) In each case the combined keyboard shortcut and mouse method beats the computer mouse only method. The scenario took anywhere from 40 seconds to 78 seconds using the mouse only method. In contrast, the combined keyboard shortcut and mouse method took between 24 to 41 seconds, beating the mouse only method by an average of about 24 seconds. An interesting note is that as the user gains more experience with the scenario, the time on both methods improve. However, there is a greater improvement on the combined method than on the mouse only method.

The chart below shows the percent savings using the keyboard shortcut method than the mouse method. The time savings range from 38% to 50%, with an average about 43%.

Conclusion & Justification

Using shortcut commands can increase employee productivity and significantly contribute to the company's bottom-line.

Take an example of an employee who spends an average 5 hours a day on a mission critical business application. Assuming that the employee is working on an application that requires 30% user interaction time, the remaining of the time is spent thinking, gathering data, or waiting for the computer to respond. If the employee can improve his/her input performance by 20%, he/she can save 20 minutes a day (5 hours x 30% x 20%). That equates to a total of 80 hours a year (48 working weeks per year times 5 days a week). That's an equivalent of 2 weeks of additional time that the employee can contribute to the company. On a $50,000 a year salary, that's a payback of $1,923. Multiply that by the number of employees who are using the same application within the company, and you can see the tremendous opportunity in productivity gain and return on investment.

Scenario

1) Bring two opened video clips to the timeline.
2) Extend one of the video clips on the timeline.
3) Perform a cut on that clip.
4) Insert the second clip to the cut point.
5) Select the first one minute of that combined video clip.
6) Discard the unused portion of the clips.
7) Save the final clip. .

This scenario is designed to eliminate system performance as a factor and focus on the user interface functions. Of course, real performance will vary with different applications, different scenarios, and different users.