User and Task Analysis

Preece, Rogers and Sharp refer to this stage as requirements analysis. It involves activities for discovering the needs of clients (users and other stakeholders). The results from this stage feed into the design of the product.

We mostly focus on functional requirements, but the following may also be considerations (described in section 7.3):

• Data requirements
• Context of use
• User requirements (often represented as a user profile)
• Usability requirements

Methods for learning about requirements

The text presents the following approaches:

• Questionnaires
• Interviews (includes contextual inquiry)
• Focus groups
• Naturalistic observation (alt term: Field observation)
• Studying documentation (e.g. policies, procedures)

Here are a couple more approaches:

• Technical support logs
• Participatory analysis (alt term: collaborative analysis) -- Lafreniere describes one basic method

Finally, it is always a good idea to look at similar, existing products and see what functions they provide their users. You will do this for you first assignment.

Describing users

The following characteristics are probably the most important for describing users (adapted from Usability Engineering by Jacob Nielsen, p. 44):

• Experience with previous or similar products
• General computer experience
• Knowledge of domain

Describing tasks

• Artifact analysis
• Task decomposition (with hierarchies)
• Listing pros and cons of performing each task

Combining users and tasks

• Scenarios (see section 7.6.1)
• User/task matrices

Discussion:

• Assume that you are interested in developing a Web site to support people in finding an apartment. What activities could you plan for learning about potential users and their problems and needs?
• What are the challenges of eliciting useful information in an interview? What methods address those challenges?
• What are some considerations for choosing the right elicitation methods?