Requirements Gathering and Expressing

Requirements Gathering and Expressing

Agenda • Questions? • Project update • Requirements continued • Project group formation

(Not All) Requirements Gathering Methods 1. Observation 2. Thinking Out Loud & Cooperative Evaluation 3. Interviews 4. Questionnaires 5. Focus groups 6. Study Documentation 7. Look at competitive products 8. Ethnography - learn by immersion/doing

Formative & Summative Evaluation • Formative evaluation • Conducting this process to help guide the formation (ie, design) of a UI • Summative Evaluation • Conducting this process to help summarize (sum up) the effectiveness of an existing or developmental UI • Many techniques can be used for both formative and summative evaluation • Our focus right now is on formative evaluation • Will revisit some of the methods again later

Observation & Thinking Out Loud • Watch user(s) doing activity of interest to you • Video or audio record (with permission) • Think out loud - encourage user to verbalize what they are thinking • Not everyone is good at this • Hard to keep it up for long time while also doing something; need breaks

Observing Tips • Carefully observe everything about users and their environment • Think of describing it to someone who has never seen this activity before • What users say is important, so are non-verbal details

Cooperative (Participative) Evaluation • Sit with user doing activity of interest to you • Talk with user as the do their activity • Ask questions • Why are you doing that? • How did you know the result was what you wanted? • Are there other ways to achieve the same goal? • How did you decide to do things this way? • Relaxed version of thinking out loud • Observer and participant can ask each other questions

Example: mall kiosk • What could you observe? • How could you use coop eval?

Interview Users • Semi-structured: predetermine sets of questions • Example question types • How do you perform task x? • Why do you perform task x? • Under what conditions do you perform task x? • What do you do before you perform…? • What information do you need to…? • Whom do you need to communicate with to …? • What do you use to…? • What happens after you…? • What is the result or consequence of…? • What is the result or consequence of NOT…? See ID 7.4 for more tips and discussion

Focus Groups • Interview groups of users – 3 to 10 at a time • Use several different groups with different roles or perspectives • Relatively low cost, quick way to learn a lot • Use structured set of questions • More specific at beginning, more open as progresses • Allow digressions before coming back on track • More challenging to lead than single interview • Some people quiet, some dominating • Easier to get off track

Questionnaires (or Surveys) • Easier to give to broader audience • Shorter, more focused than interview • General criteria • Make questions clear and specific • Ask some closed questions with range of answers • Sometimes also have a no opinion option, or other answer option • Do test run with one or two people

Other Typical Questions • Rank the importance of each of these tasks (give a list of tasks) • List the four most important tasks that you perform (this is an open question) • List the pieces of information you need to have before making a decision about X, in order of importance • Are there any other points you would like to make? (open-ended opinion question; good way to end)

Questionnaires - Example • Numerical scales: On a scale of 1 to 7, how comfortable are you… • Could also use just words • Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree See ID 7.5 for more tips

Example: mall kiosk • Who to interview? What questions? • Who to give questionnaire to? What questions? • What about focus group? • What are differences between methods?

Study Documentation • Often describe how things should be done rather than how they are done • Try to understand why not done “by the book” • Or can do an expert interview to get similar information

Look at Competitive Products • Looking for both good and bad ideas • Functionality • UI style • Do user task performance metrics to establish bounds on your system

Which Methods to Use? • Depends on • Resources • Current knowledge of tasks and users • Context • Can’t use talking out loud if work involves two people working together • Essential to use some methods • Not likely you will use all methods See pg. 343 in ID

Which Methods to Use? • Self-service filling and payment system for a gas station • On-board ship data analysis system for geologists searching for oil • Fashion website for buying clothes at large department store

Assignment 2 • Semi-structured interview • 2 people, 10 minutes each • List of questions • Summarize responses • Think about your project topic • Due: next Tuesday by class time

Process • Gather data • Interviews, observation, surveys/questionnaires, documentation, immersion • Organize data • Notes, cards, brainstorming, computer tools • Represent data • Lists, outlines, matrices • Narratives • Hierarchies, Networks, Flow charts

Making Sense • Organize/categorize information • “coding scheme” • Card Sorting • Affinity Diagrams • Task analysis

Affinity Diagram - “Sorted Cards” From Interaction Design, Preece Rogers and Sharp

Describing requirements activities • Narratives • Personas • Scenarios • Task Analysis & other task descriptions • …next lecture

Recall: User Characteristics • Attitude, morale, willingness to change, motivation, reading level, typing skill, education, frequency of use, training, color-blindness, handedness, gender,… • Novice, intermediate, expert • System experience, task experience, computer literacy • Cultural factors • Uses of icons, colors, words, metaphors - more later

Persona • Description of user and what user wishes to do • Put a specific human face on abstract data • Be specific/detailed, even give names and picture • Easier to remember and talk about • Two personas for ATM usage follow • Adapted from User Interface Design and Evaluation, The Open University • Developed by Cooper (1999)

Sandra (representing young adults thru middle age) Sandra is 30, is married to Jason, has two children Todd(6) and Carly (18 months). They live in a subdivision that is about three miles from the town center, where the bank and stores are located. Jason uses the car for work, and works long hours, leaving at 6:45 am and returning at 8:00 pm. Sandra does not drive, so has to use public transportation. She tries to run errands and shop while Todd is in school, so she only has to take Carly to town with her. She typically needs to make two trips to town each week to get everything done. She uses a stroller with Carly, and the bank is one flight up via escalator, so she prefers to use the ATM outside the first floor, even though there is no canopy to protect customers from bad weather.

Grandpa Marvin (representing middle age to senior citizens) Marvin is 68 years old, and his social security is deposited into his bank account at the start of each month. He goes to the bank every week, withdrawing enough cash for the week - for miscellaneous expenditures. Regular bills are paid by check. He stands in line for a live teller, as he prefers the social interaction to using an ATM, even though his new artificial hip makes standing in line uncomfortable. He does not have an ATM card.

UNCC SIS student • Let’s write one to describe some of you

Scenario • Describe tasks and context in sentences • Natural way of describing general idea • Not effective for • details • branching tasks • parallel tasks • GREAT as introduction to diagrams or outlines

Scenario: Example 1 • Its Friday afternoon and John just got paid. He wants to deposit his check immediately so he can pay his rent. He stops at one branch of his bank on the way home from work. He waits in his car while another person finishes using the ATM in front of the bank since it is drizzling outside. He walks up to the ATM to deposit his check. Only, as he is about to put the check into the envelope at the ATM, he realizes that he has not signed the back of it, and he has no pen and can not find one on or near the ATM machine. He cancels the transaction on the ATM, and enters the bank, which luckily is still open for 5 more minutes. He goes to the counter, finds a pen, and signs his check. He also fills out a deposit slip. He then waits to see a teller in person to deposit his check, and get money for the weekend.

Scenario: Example 2 • Annie walks up to the ATM to deposit her weekly pay check. She puts her ATM card into the slot in the machine. She then enters her PIN number quickly, trying to block the person waiting behind her from viewing the keypad, and knows that she does not have to press “Enter” at this particular machine. She then chooses “Deposit” and “Check.” She enters the amount of the check using the keypad, then takes an envelope from the ATM machine, puts her check inside, seals the envelope and writes the amount of the check on the outside. She feeds the envelope into the slot into the ATM machine. She then selects “No other transactions” to finish, and waits to receive her receipt and ATM card.

Example • Register for classes • What kinds of activities could we write a scenario about? • Let’s write one together

Exercise: Movie Ticket Kiosk • What data gathering techniques would you use? Who would you interact with? • Who are the stakeholders? • What are typical user characteristics? • What is physical/social/technical environment? • What is a typical scenario of use? • What is an atypical or problem scenario?

Next Assignments • Create a persona: Due Tuesday • Create a scenario: Due next Thursday • Think about your project topic • Confer with teammates

Requirements Gathering and Expressing