understanding your users a practical guide to user requirements methods tools and techniques

—Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini, Principal, Nielsen/Norman Group This is a detailed, step-by-step guide to user requirements gathering, one of the most critical, yet often overlooked stages in p

Critical acclaim for

Understanding Your Users

A Practical Guide to User Requirements Methods, Tools, and Techniques

I wish I'd had this book ten years ago; it would have saved me an awful lot of time It's the kind of eminently practical guide that I really appreciate, and the case studies are excellent I highly recommend it!

—Steve Krug, author of Don't Make Me Think!

A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Courage and Baxter propel the reader to the beating heart of user-centered design with this comprehensive and practical compendium of process, methodology, and cutting-edge thinking The techniques they explain so clearly in this detailed and thorough book provide the power to expose the common myth, opinion, and misunderstanding, and reveal the authentic nature of the true engine of wealth in the information age: your users; the people who use your digital systems.

—Alan Cooper, Founder & Chairman of the Board, Cooper

Here's a book that could easily become your best friend, whether you're just starting out or are a seasoned professional.

Courage and Baxter cover it all, from hard science to ethics to the finest practical details.

You'll find a wealth of case studies and instantly accessible answers to sudden questions—

"My test subject just refused to be video taped What do I do?" —along with many valuable

techniques that will be new even to seasoned interaction designers and usability professionals, techniques that I began applying immediately in my own work.

—Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini, Principal, Nielsen/Norman Group

This is a detailed, step-by-step guide to user requirements gathering, one of the most critical, yet often overlooked stages in product development research Courage and Baxter effectively draw on real-world experience as well as tried-and-true methods.

—Christian Rohrer, Director, User Experience Research, Yahoo!

Modestly presented as a "how to" book, this work is much more It helps to consolidate the new field of interaction design by focusing on a common-sense approach to user research This is an immensely practical book with enduring value for the interaction designer and the usability professional.With detailed discussions of seven key methods of study, clear examples, well-chosen supporting case studies, and an assessment of the proper use of each method, Courage and Baxter have provided an intelligent pathway for those new to the field and a

reference work for experienced professionals The added benefit—in effect, illustrating the very philosophy of user-centered design that they advance—is the way the authors have placed

usability study in a wider context of what comes before and after one studies users This is a thoroughly accessible and usable book It may well become a classic of the field.

—Richard Buchanan, Ph.D., Professor, Carnegie Mellon

University and President, Design Research Society

Effectively gathering and applying user requirements is one of the most critical areas of focus

in today's companies This invaluable resource provides comprehensive and practical

guidance on a variety of methods—including strategies, tactics, tips, and templates—

enabling readers to more efficiently apply techniques in their own organizations.

—Janice Rohn, Vice President, User Experience, World Savings Bank

In Understanding Your Users, Catherine and Kathy give usability practitioners a thorough and practical handbook for conducting user research They provide details necessary for planning, preparing, conducting, analyzing, and presenting the research for a variety of techniques Their insights and advice on what to do when something unexpected occurs will

be particularly invaluable for those just starting out their careers in user research or those interested in trying out an unfamiliar user research technique

Peppered with checklists, case studies, and practical advice offered in this book, you will immediately increase your ability to conduct user research that yields quality and reliable results.

—Pawan Vora, Principal, Inov Information Designs

UNDERSTANDING YOUR USERS

A Practical Guide to User Requirements Methods, Tools, and

Techniques

The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies

Series Editors: Stuart Card, PARC; Jonathan Grudin, Microsoft; Jakob Nielsen, Nielsen Norman Group

Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User

Requirements Methods, Tools, and Techniques

Catherine Courage and Kathy Baxter

The Web Application Design Handbook: Best

Practices for Web-Based Software

Susan Fowler and Victor Stanwick

The Mobile Connection: The Cell Phone’s Impact on

Interaction Design for Complex Problem Solving:

Developing Useful and Usable Software

Edited by John M Carroll

Web Bloopers: 60 Common Web Design Mistakes,

and How to Avoid Them

Jeff Johnson

Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide

to User Research

Mike Kuniavsky

Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Design

and Refine User Interfaces

Carolyn Snyder

Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change

What We Think and Do

B J Fogg

Coordinating User Interfaces for Consistency

Edited by Jakob Nielsen

Usability Engineering: Scenario-Based Development of Human-Computer Interaction

Mary Beth Rosson and John M Carroll

Your Wish is My Command: Programming by Example

Edited by Henry Lieberman

GUI Bloopers: Don’ts and Dos for Software Developers and Web Designers

Edited by Allison Druin and James Hendler

Information Appliances and Beyond: Interaction Design for Consumer Products

Edited by Eric Bergman

Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision

to Think

Written and edited by Stuart K Card, Jock D.Mackinlay, and Ben Shneiderman

The Design of Children's Technology

Edited by Allison Druin

Web Site Usability: A Designer’s Guide

Jared M Spool, Tara Scanlon, Will Schroeder,Carolyn Snyder, and Terri DeAngelo

The Usability Engineering Lifecycle: A Practitioner's Handbook for User Interface Design

Deborah J Mayhew

Contextual Design: Defining Customer-Centered Systems

Hugh Beyer and Karen Holtzblatt

Human-Computer Interface Design: Success Stories, Emerging Methods, and Real World Context

Edited by Marianne Rudisill, Clayton Lewis, Peter

P Polson, and Timothy D McKay

Catherine Courage and Kathy Baxter

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Morgan Kaufmann Publishers is an imprint of Elsevier

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Principles of User-centered Design 4 Incorporating User-centered Design Principles into the Product Lifecycle 6

A Variety of Requirements 8

The Product Team’s Perspective 9 User Requirements 13

Getting Stakeholder Buy-in for Your Activity 14

Arguments and Counter Arguments 15 Preventing Resistance 18

The Methods 21

2 BEFORE YOU CHOOSE AN ACTIVITY: LEARNING

ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT AND USERS 28

Introduction 29 Learn About Your Product 29 Learn About Your Users 41

Step 1: User Profile 43 Step 2: Personas 47 Step 3: Scenarios 52

Pulling It All Together 59 Case Study A: Competitive Intelligence: Mining Design Concepts from Business School

Libraries 59 Case Study B: Personas: A Case Study by Microsoft Corporation 75

Introduction 95 Ethical Considerations 95

The Right To Be Informed 97 Permission to Record 99

Create a Comfortable Experience 99 Appropriate Language 99

Anonymity 100 The Right To Withdraw 100 Appropriate Incentives 100 Valid and Reliable Data 101 Acknowledge Your True Capabilities 101 Data Retention and Documentation 102 Debrief 102

Legal Considerations 103 Pulling It All Together 104

4 SETTING UP FACILITIES FOR YOUR USER

REQUIREMENTS ACTIVITY 106

Introduction 107 Using Your Company’s Existing Facilities 108 Renting a Marketing or Hotel Facility 110 Building a Permanent Facility 111

Components of a Devoted User Requirements Facility 112

Lab Layout 123

Digital versus Analog Labs 126

Analog Recording 127 Digital Recording 128

Pulling It All Together 129

ix

Case Study: Designing an Innovative Cost-effective Usability Lab 129

PART 2 GET UP AND RUNNING 143

5 PREPARING FOR YOUR USER REQUIREMENTS

ACTIVITY 144

Introduction 145 Creating a Proposal 146

Why Create a Proposal? 146 Sections of the Proposal 147 Sample Proposal 149

Creating a Recruitment Advertisement 169 Sample Posting 172

Recruitment Methods 173 Preventing No-shows 182 Recruiting International Participants 184 Recruiting Special Populations 186

Tracking Participants 188

Tax Implications 188 The Professional Participant 189 Create a Watch List 190

Creating a Protocol 191 Piloting Your Activity 193 Pulling It All Together 196 Case Study: Cultural Differences Affecting User Research Methods in China 196

Introduction 209 Welcoming Your Participants 209 Dealing with Late and Absent Participants 211

The Late Participant 211 You Can’t Wait Any Longer 212 Including a Late Participant 214 The No-show 215

Warm-up Exercises 215 Inviting Observers 216 Introducing Your Think-aloud Protocol 218 Moderating Your Activity 220

Recording and Note-taking 226

xi

Dealing with Awkward Situations 230

Participant Issues 232 Product Team/Observer Issues 241

Pulling It All Together 244

PART 3 THE METHODS 245

7 INTERVIEWS 246

Introduction 247 When Should You Conduct Interviews? 248 Things To Be Aware of When Conducting Interviews 250

Outcomes Analysis 252

Preparing to Conduct an Interview 256

Identify the Objectives of the Study 258 Select the Type of Interview 258

Decide Now How You Will Analyze the Data 262 Write the Questions 262

Test Your Questions 270 Players in Your Activity 270 Inviting Observers 273 Activity Materials 274

Conducting an Interview 274

The Five Phases of an Interview 275 Your Role as the Interviewer 277 Monitoring the Relationship with the Interviewee 290

Data Analysis and Interpretation 293

Categorizing 294 Affinity Diagram 294 Qualitative Analysis Tools 294

Communicate the Findings 295 Lessons Learned 297

Pulling It All Together 298 Case Study: Preparing and Conducting On-site Interviews 299

Introduction 313 When Should You Use a Survey? 314 Things To Be Aware of When Using a Survey 315 Creating and Distributing Your Survey 316

Preparation Timeline 317 Identify the Objectives of Your Study 319 Players in Your Activity 319

Compose Your Questions 320 Determine Now How You Will Analyze Your Data 333 Building the Survey 335

Considerations When Choosing a Survey Distribution Method 338

Distributing Your Survey via the Web, E-mail, or Paper 343

Test Your Survey 346

xiii

Data Analysis and Interpretation 348

Initial Assessment 348 Types of Calculation 349

Communicate the Findings 357 Lessons Learned 358

Pulling It All Together 359 Case Study: Using Online Surveys to Quantify Usability Issues 359

Introduction 371 When Should You Conduct a Wants and Needs Analysis? 372

Things To Be Aware of When Conducting a Wants and Needs Analysis 372

Preparing for a Wants and Needs Analysis 374

Preparation Timeline 375 Identify the Brainstorming Question 376 Players in Your Activity 378

Inviting Observers 380 Activity Materials 381

Conducting a Wants and Needs Analysis 381

Welcome the Participants 382 Introduce the Activity and Brainstorming Rules 382 Have a Practice Exercise 384

The Brainstorming 385 Prioritization 387

Data Analysis and Interpretation 392

Create Identifiers for Each Booklet 393 Sort Based on Verbatim Content 393 Combine Groups 394

Remove Duplicates from Each Pile 395 Determine the Percentage of Respondents Per Group 396

Combine Data from Multiple Sessions 396 Interpreting the Data 398

Communicate the Findings 399 Modifications 401

Lessons Learned 407 Pulling It All Together 408 Case Study: Understanding Users’ Healthcare Wants and Needs 409

Introduction 415 When Should You Conduct a Card Sort? 416 Things To Be Aware of When Conducting a Card Sort 417

Group or Individual Card Sort? 417

xv

Preparing to Conduct a Card Sort 418

Preparation Timeline 419 Identify Objects and Definitions for Sorting 420 Activity Materials 422

Additional Data Collected in a Card Sort 424 Players in Your Activity 426

Inviting Observers 427

Conducting a Card Sort 428

Activity Timeline 428 Welcome the Participants 429 Practice 429

Card Review and Sorting 430 Labeling Groups 432

Data Analysis and Interpretation 432

Analysis with a Card Sorting Program 437 Analysis with a Statistics Package 437 Analysis with a Spreadsheet Package 438 Data that Computer Programs Cannot Handle 438 Interpreting the Results 439

Communicate the Findings 442 Modifications 443

Lessons Learned 447 Pulling It All Together 447 Case Study: How Card Sorting Changed a Website Team’s View of How the Site Should Be

Organized 447

11 GROUP TASK ANALYSIS 458

Introduction 459 Background to Task Analysis 460 Overview of Group Task Analysis 462

When to Use a Group Task Analysis 463 Benefits of the Group Approach 466 Things To Be Aware of When Conducting a GTA 467 Types of Data You Can Collect 469

Preparing to Conduct a Group Task Analysis 472

Preparation Timeline 473 Determine the Task of Interest 475 Identify the Task Steps 475

Players Involved in the Activity 477 Inviting Observers 479

Activity Materials 480

Conducting a Group Task Analysis 482

Activity Timeline 482 Welcome the Participants 483 Train the Participants 484 Moderate the Group 489 Review the Task 493 Debrief 495

Data Analysis and Interpretation 495

Recreate the Flow within 24 Hours 495 Deal with Multiple Flows 497

Analyze the Data 498

xvii

Communicate the Findings 501 Modifications 503

Lessons Learned 505 Pulling It All Together 507 Case Study: Capturing Task Information on How People Prepare For and Conduct Online Meetings 507

Introduction 515 When Should You Use a Focus Group? 516 Things To Be Aware of When Conducting a Focus Group 518

Preparing to Conduct a Focus Group 521

Preparation Timeline 522 Identify the Questions You Wish to Answer 523 Players in Your Activity 527

Inviting Observers 533 Activity Materials 533

Conducting a Focus Group 535

Activity Timeline 535 Welcome the Participants 535 Introduce the Activity and Discussion Rule 536 The Focus Group Discussion 536

Data Analysis and Interpretation 538

Debrief 538 Analyzing Quantitative Data 538 Analyzing Qualitative Data 539

Communicate the Findings 540 Modifications 542

Lessons Learned 546 Pulling It All Together 550 Case Study: Engineering Collaborative Tools: a Different Use 551

Introduction 563 When Should You Conduct Field Studies? 564 Things To Be Aware of When Conducting Field Research 566

Field Study Methods to Choose From 569

Observation Only 573 Interacting with the User 579 Method Supplements 587

Preparing for a Field Study 591

Identify the Type of Study to Conduct 592 Players in Your Activity 593

Train the Players 598

Develop your Protocol 599 Schedule the Visits 600 Activity Materials 603 Summary 607

Conducting a Field Study 608

Get Organized 609 Meet the Participant 609 Begin Data Collection 611 Wrap-up 612

Organize Your Data 612 Summary 615

Data Analysis and Interpretation 615

Debrief 617 Affinity Diagram 617 Analyzing Deep Hanging-Out Data 617 Analyzing Contextual Inquiry/Design Data 618 Analyzing Data from Discount User Observations 619 Qualitative Analysis Tools 621

Communicate the Findings 621 Lessons Learned 623

Pulling It All Together 625 Case Study: Understanding the Staples Delivery Experience 625

PART 4 WRAPPING UP 635

Introduction 637 Prioritization of Findings 638

First Prioritization: Usability Perspective 639 Second Prioritization: Merging Usability and Product Development Priorities 641

Presenting your Findings 644

Why the Verbal Presentation is Essential 646 Presentation Attendees 647

Ingredients of a Successful Presentation 648

Reporting Your Findings 652

Report Format 652 The Complete Report 654 The Recommendations Report 658 The Executive Summary Report 659 Report Supplements 659

Ensuring the Incorporation of Your Findings 660

Stakeholder Involvement 661

Be a Virtual Member of the Team 662 Obtain a Status for Each Recommendation 663 Ensure the Product Team Documents Your Findings 663

Keep a Scorecard 664

Pulling It All Together 666

xxi

Case Study: Calico Configuration Modeling Workbench 666

PART 5 APPENDICES 677

A Learn About Usability 678

B Vendors that Offer Training in Usability Activities 688

C Vendors that Consult on Usability Lab Design, Sell or Rent Lab Equipment, or Build Labs 694

D Vendors that Recruit Participants, Conduct Usability Activities for You, and/or Rent Facilities to You 698

E Requirements for Creating a Participant Recruitment Database 704

Figure and Table Credits 779 About the Authors 781

PREFACE

How to use this book

Usability refers to the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which users can

achieve tasks when using a product A usable product is easy to learn and

remem-ber; is efficient, visually pleasing, and pleasant to use; and enables users to quickly

recover from errors and accomplish their tasks with ease In order to make a product

usable, those involved in product development must employ usability methods to

ensure optimal usability User requirements methodologies are methods that can

be used in the early stages of product development to help fulfill this goal

This book is designed to be an easy-to-read “how-to” guide on user requirements

gathering methods in the real world It teaches seven distinct user requirements

gathering methods and also covers pre- and post-method considerations, such as

recruiting, facilitating group activities, negotiating with product developments

teams/customers, and getting your results incorporated into the product To help

illustrate the material and methods presented in this book, we refer to a fictitious

travel website called “TravelSmart.com” throughout the book In addition, we have

included real-world case studies to show how these methods have been applied in

industry

This book has five main parts

Part 1: What You Need to Know Before Choosing an Activity

Often people are not aware of all the factors they should consider before

choosing a requirements activity Chapters 1 through 4 will introduce you to user

requirements and the factors you need to consider They cover such critical topics as:

■ The difference between user requirements and other types of requirements

■ Getting buy-in from the product team to conduct user requirements activities

■ Product/domain research

■ Learning who your end user really is, including creating personas and scenarios

■ Legal and ethical issues

■ Creating an environment to conduct user requirements activities

Part 2: Get Up and Running

Once you have decided to conduct a user requirements activity, the preparationprocess begins Much of the preparation that must be done is the same regardless

of the activity that you will conduct Chapters 5 and 6 focus on this groundwork sothat you are fully prepared to execute your activity This work includes:

■ Creating a proposal and protocol for your activity

■ Recruiting

■ Piloting

■ Welcoming the participants

■ Moderating the activity

Part 3: The Methods

Chapters 7 through 13 focus on user requirements gathering techniques Eachchapter focuses on a different method and variations on that method For each ofthese methods, you will learn step by step how to prepare for the activity, conductthe activity, and analyze the data Materials, templates, and checklists are provided

to get you using the techniques in no time! Lessons learned and methodmodifications are discussed as well so that you can adapt a method to suit your needsand avoid making costly mistakes The methods covered are:

■ Interviews

■ Surveys

■ Want and needs analysis

■ Card sorting

■ Group task analysis

■ Focus groups

■ Field studies

In addition, usability experts have been recruited to provide real-world case studies

which are presented at the end of each chapter, to show the method in action

Part 4: Wrapping Up

Once you have conducted an activity and analyzed the data, your job is not done

You must communicate your results clearly to your product team/customer or else

the data are worthless In Chapter 14, we discuss how to effectively report and

present your results to ensure that they are incorporated into the product

Part 5: Appendices

We also include appendices with additional information that will be of great value

as you begin your user requirements methods The appendices are:

■ Resources for learning about usability (Appendix A)

■ A list of helpful usability training sources for those new to user requirements(Appendix B)

■ A list of resources to help you create a facility for conducting user requirementsactivities (Appendix C)

■ A list of resources that can recruit participants, conduct user requirements sions, and/or rent facilities to you (Appendix D)

ses-■ Requirements for creating a participant recruiting database (Appendix E)

■ Affinity diagramming discussion (Appendix F)

■ An overview of qualitative data analysis tools (Appendix G)

■ A report template for your findings (Appendix H)

■ Glossary of terms (Appendix I)

■ A bibliography of references (Appendix J)

xxv

we step you through every aspect of the activity, from preparation to presentation

of the results

We have also included an appendix entitled Learn about Usability, which can provide

you with valuable resources and references as someone new to the field

Usability professional

If you are a seasoned usability professional, this book can provide you with someadditional user requirements activities that you may not be familiar with Usabilityprofessionals are always looking to add new methods to their toolbox In addition,this book can act as a reference guide for some of those methods you may not haveconducted in a while, or you may see some modifications of a method you had neverthought of Finally, we have packed the book with research to demonstrate short-comings and strengths of the different methods, as well as case studies so you cansee how your peers are executing these methods

Usability promoter

Many of us within product development organizations are faced with the task ofpromoting the importance of usability and user requirements gathering This bookwill help provide you with some ammunition The real-world case studies locatedwithin the chapters demonstrate how these methods have been used successfullywithin companies to improve their products

xxvii

We never could have imagined the number of hours that this book would require

and it could not have been completed without the support of countless individuals

Joe Dumas’s untiring encouragement and expertise as both a reviewer and colleague

cannot be measured We owe him an immense debt of gratitude Howard Tamler,

Jon Meads, and Robin Kinkead were pivotal as reviewers and we thank them for

all of their time and insightful feedback We would also like to thank Stephanie

Rosenbaum, Ross Teague, and Bonnie Nardi for their reviews of selected chapters

A tremendous thank you is due to each of our case study contributors for sharing

their unique and compelling user requirements stories Their experiences are

won-derful additions to the book And of course, we cannot forget Dan Rosenberg,

Oracle’s VP of the Usability and Interface Design Group He provided us with the

time, resources, and words of encouragement to make this book possible We

would also like to thank our wonderful colleagues, friends, and management at

Oracle and eBay for their support, ideas, and flexibility In particular, we would

like to thank Michelle Bacigalupi for her feedback and encouragement and Uday

Gajendar for his superb original cover design We would also like to extend our

thanks to Diane Cerra for motivating us to write this book, and everyone at Morgan

Kaufmann for their assistance throughout this process On a personal note, we

would like to individually acknowledge friends and family

Kathy: I spent nearly every weekend and many a vacation writing while my husband,

Joe Balderrama, remained patient and supportive He did whatever it took to give

me the time, energy, and love to make the book happen I must also thank mymother, Karen Fulton, who has always been the single greatest cheerleader myentire life Her strength set the example that I have lived my life by Finally, I mustthank my dear friends, family, and co-workers for listening, supporting, and encour-aging me along the way

Catherine: I would like to say thank you to all my friends and family who motivated,

and inspired me throughout this process A special thank you to my husband, Ian,for being my greatest enthusiast and for making me smile, and to my parents, Maryand George, for encouraging me in all my endeavors

PART

INTRODUCTION USER-CENTERED DESIGN

Principles of User-centered DesignIncorporating User-centered Design Principles into the Product Lifecycle

A VARIETY OF REQUIREMENTS

The Product Team’s PerspectiveUser Requirements

GETTING STAKEHOLDER BUY-IN FOR YOUR ACTIVITY

Arguments and Counter ArgumentsPreventing Resistance

THE METHODS

Introduction• User-centered Design 3

INTRODUCTION TO USER

REQUIREMENTS

Introduction

User requirementsrefers to the features/attributes your product should have or how

it should perform from the users’ perspective User-centered designis a discipline

for collecting and analyzing these requirements This chapter introduces the basic

concepts behind user requirements and the processes involved in capturing them

We discuss what user-centered design is, the different requirements stakeholders

collect during product development, and how to get buy-in for your user

require-ments activities The chapter also provides an overview of the methods presented in

User-centered design (UCD) is a product development approach that focuses on the

end users of a product The philosophy is that the product should suit the user,

rather than making the user suit the product This is accomplished by employing

techniques, processes, and methods throughout the product lifecycle that focus onthe user If you are new to usabilityyou should refer to Appendices A (page 678)and B (page 688)at the end of this book to learn about usability resources and classesthat can help bring you up to speed.

Principles of User-centered Design

There are three key principles of UCD (Gould & Lewis 1985):

An Early Focus on Users and Tasks

The first principle focuses on the systematic and structured collection of users’requirements That is the focus of this book We will teach you how to effectivelycollect users’ requirements using a variety of methods

To maximize the usability of a product, the user should be involved from theproduct’s inception The earlier the user is involved, the less repair work needs to

be done at the final stages of the lifecycle (e.g., after a usability test) The UCDprocess should begin with user requirements gathering By collecting user require-ments, you can gain an understanding of such things as what your users really wantand need, how they currently work or how they would like to work, and their mental modelsor mental representations of their domain This information is invaluablewhen creating a superior product

Empirical Measurement of Product Usage

The focus here is on ease of learning and effective, error-free use This can beassessed early in the lifecycle via usability testing of prototypes Metrics such

as errors, assists, and task completion rates gauge this In a usability test, users aregiven a prototype or the final product and asked to complete a series of typical tasksusing the product This activity allows you to identify usability issues with yourproduct Then changes are made to improve the product before its release

SUGGESTED RESOURCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING

This book does not dive into the detailed process of usability testing, but there areplenty of great books that do These include:

• Barnum, C M (2002) Usability Testing and Research New York: Longman.

• Dumas, J S & Redish, J C (1999) A Practical Guide to Usability Testing, 2nd

ed Exeter, UK: Intellect Books

• Nielsen, J (1994) Usability Engineering San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.

• Rubin, J (1994) Handbook of Usability Testing New York: John Wiley & Sons.

User-centered Design• Principles of User-centered Design 5

What the user actually wanted What development built

What got designed

What went into the requirements What marketing heard

What the user described

Image based on cartoon #5 at http://www.usability.

uk.com/

Iterative Design

The final principle recommends that requirements are collected and the product is

designed, modified, and tested repeatedly You do not go through the development

cycle once; you continue to iterate and fine-tune with each cycle until you get it right

No one gets all the information the first time, no matter how expertly you execute

each usability activity

Incorporating User-centered Design Principles into the Product Lifecycle

Figure 1.1 illustrates the ideal product lifecycle with these UCD processes rated The key elements of “an early focus on users,” “empirical measurement ofusage,” and “iterative design” are all incorporated Stage 1, the “Concept” phase,encompasses the “early focus on the user.” The “Design” phase (stage 2) ideallyincorporates the “early focus on the user” and “empirical measurement” principles

incorpo-of UCD The “Develop” and “Release” phases (stages 3 and 4) tend to focus on the

“empirical measurement” principle of UCD Sample activities in each phase are cussed in this section

■ Developing usability goals and objectives

■ Creating user profiles and personas

■ Executing user requirements activities, such as interviews, field studies, taskanalysis, etc

Stage 2: Design

At this stage, you begin using the information collected in stage 1 to create iterative

designs Some usability activities include:

■ User walkthroughs of low-fidelity prototypes (e.g., paper)

■ Preparation, planning and execution of pre-product release heuristicevaluations

■ Preparation, planning and execution of pre-product release usability testing

Stage 4: Release

The last stage is when your product is released to the public or customer, or within

your organization This stage often blends both user requirements activities with

empirical measurement In software environments, formal usability tests are

typi-cally executed on the live code In addition, requirements collection for the next

product release often begins at stage 4, to gauge users’ feedback on the product that

has been released in the real world Some stage 4 activities include:

■ Usability testing

■ Surveys or interviews to gain feedback on released code

■ Site visits to see the product being used in its environment

The third principle of UCD – “iterative design” – is employed throughout the entire

cycle, as well as within each stage of the process For example, you may do a wants

User-centered Design• Incorporating User-centered Design Principles into the Product Lifecycle 7

and needs (W&N) session in the concept phase This activity will begin your userrequirements collection, but may open up new questions so you may run a follow-

up activity such as a group task analysis (GTA) You will then use the results of theanalysis to go back and revise and refine or iterate your user requirements docu-ment based on your new data

SUGGESTED RESOURCES FOR ADDITIONAL READING

If your company has not adopted a user-centered design process within its productlifecycle, you have a larger issue on your hands Conducting a few user require-ments activities will not lead to a cure You will need to employ a change man-agement strategy in order to affect the organization structure, processes, andculture of your company This is no small task There are a variety of books andpapers that we can recommend if you fall into this category These include:

• Bias, R G & Mayhew, D J (eds) (1994) Cost-justifying Usability San Francisco:

Morgan Kaufmann

• Bloomer, S & Croft, R (1997) Pitching Usability to your Organization,

Interactions 4(6), Nov./Dec., 18–26.

• Kotter, J (1996) Leading Change Boston: Harvard Business Press.

• Rohn, J & Braun, S (1993) Structuring Usability within Organizations Presented at the Usability Professionals’ Association Conference, Redmond, WA,21–23 July

• Sato, S & Panton, A (2003) Using a Change-Management Approach to PromoteCustomer-centered Design Presented at the Designing for User Experiences Conference, San Francisco, 5–7 June

• Schaffer, E (2004) Institutionalization of Usability: A Step-by-Step Guide New

York: Addison-Wesley

A Variety of Requirements

Thanks to market pressure and a growing awareness of usability, many productteams now realize the importance of understanding their users and the conse-quences that result when users are unable to utilize products with maximum ease

As a result of this awareness, many companies have incorporated some of the UCD

process into their product lifecycles For many companies, usability begins and ends

with the usability test

There is a clear difference between usability testing and user requirements

gather-ing Usability testing determines whether a given solution is usable Requirements

gathering provides insight into the many possible solutions and allows a person to

select and investigate the best solution from the users’ perspective The difference

between a good designer and the outstanding designer is the latter’s vision of

solu-tions Without requirements gathering, your vision is seriously limited

Although usability testing is a critical part of an effective user-centered lifecycle, it

is only one component of the UCD This book is focused on the requirements

gath-ering stage, which often receives less attention than usability testing, but is equally

important By requirements, we mean the features/attributes the product should

have or how it should perform Requirements can come from a variety of sources

– marketing, product development, end users, purchasing decision-makers, etc All

sources have valid requirements and they must be taken into consideration by the

product team For example, if you are building a website for booking travel, some

user requirements might include:

■ All pages must download in 5 seconds or faster

■ Users must register with the site before making purchases

■ The site must be available in English, Spanish, and French

■ The site should appeal to all demographics of users

■ Users should not require training

We next describe the different types of requirements you may encounter By

under-standing a product’s “competing” requirements, you can better position the user

requirements for inclusion in the product

The Product Team’s Perspective

The requirements gathering phase is the period when the product team must do its

initial research in order to determine the direction of the product They must collect

requirements from a variety of sources (e.g., sales, marketing, managers in your

company, customers, end users) and use this information to determine what

A Variety of Requirements• The Product Team’s Perspective 9

functionality will be included in the product, the technology that will be used, thetask flows they will model, etc This stage is critical in creating a basis for the design.Poor requirements collection will impact the remaining stages of the product life-cycle depicted in Figure 1.1 You will end up with a misguided product that won’tsell, or will be unusable and useless to the users and/or the company that purchases it.

There are a variety of different requirements that factor into product developmentand there is often confusion between them Figure 1.2 illustrates some of the manyrequirements and sources that a product team must deal with

Marketing

System engineering

Business analysts

Hardware engineering

requests changes provides business requirements

and project parameters;

requests changes

handles licensing

of tools and components

specify business, functional, and performance needs;

request changes

specifies hardware interfaces the software must respect

Describe user requirements and quality attributes; review requirements

assists users; provides input from customer bug reports and enhancement requests

allocates system requirements to software;

requests changes

Product Development Team

require-ments because they are often confused with user requirerequire-ments It is important to

note that each of these is important, but they are not user requirements There may

be overlap, but it is critical for all of the different sources of requirements to be

inde-pendently collected and then prioritized as a group You cannot assume that what

the sales person wants to see in the product is the same as what the end user wants

to see in the product In order to collect the different requirements effectively, you

must be able to distinguish between them

DILBERT reprinted

by permission of United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

A Variety of Requirements• The Product Team’s Perspective 11

Business Requirements

The people who are considering purchasing your product have requirements for that

product These people are typically corporate professionals or executives We often

refer to them as “the decision-makers.” Their requirements often reflect the current

business practices of their company or new practices they want to adopt to employ

cost savings They want to make sure that the product matches their requirements

If you want to keep these customers, being aware of their business requirements is

very important Sometimes these requirements overlap with the users’

require-ments, but often business requirements tend to be more high-level and/or

technical

Marketing and Sales Requirements

The marketing and sales departments want to ensure that the product sells and their

requirements reflect this goal They may have requests for features or functions that

they think customers want, that competitors have or don’t have, etc Marketing

requirements tend to be at a higher level rather than detailed Marketers are not