User problems, scenarios and storyboards

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User problems, scenarios and storyboards

• UCD Hoorcollege blok 1 week 7

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Learning goals

• By the end of the colleges and reading you
  should
• Know what a context based scenario is
• Understand the role of scenarios is product
  development
• Know how to use personas to construct context
  based scenarios

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Agenda

• Types of scenarios
• What is a context based scenario?
• Steps in developing context based scenarios
• The next stage
• Summary

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Types of scenario
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Types of scenario

• Alan Cooper identifies three types of scenario
• Context based scenarios
• Key path scenarios
• Validation scenarios

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Use of scenarios in product development

• Each of these has a role in product development
• Context based scenarios are used to define user
  requirements
• Key path scenarios are used to define the
  interaction framework
• Validation scenarios are used to refine the
  design and make sure it deals with exceptions and
  special cases

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Context based scenarios
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What are context based user scenarios?

• Context based scenarios are stories (narrative
  tools) that use personas to describe what a user
  wants to achieve through use of a product in
  order to suggest a list of user requirements
• They can also suggest what is wrong with the
  situation as is it is currently

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Why persona based?

• Personas are archetypes of the various users of a
  product (or people with a particular problem)
• Personas have goals and behaviours
• They want to achieve certain things and will
  behave in particular ways to achieve them
• Personas allow us to construct a story of an
  ideal usage scenario to help us develop (or
  change) products that allow users to achieve
  their goals
• Personas keep us at the level of goals rather
  than tasks in initial development

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Tasks versus goals

• Tasks describe how someone makes a product
  achieve their goals
• Goals describe what they want to achieve by using
  the product

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Activity Discuss the following questions with
your neighbour

• What task do I have to carry out when using an
  email system?
• What goals might I have for when using an email
  system?

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Goals first, tasks later

• If we focus on tasks first we get into detail too
  soon
• We do not know what is important and unimportant
• We have not thought about the users real
  problems
• The first questions should be
• Why do they want to use a system (their goals)
• What does the system have to offer to allow them
  to do this?
• Goals allow us to focus on the why and what
  questions so that we can better fit the hows to
  the users goals
• Context based scenarios allow us to focus on why
  and what rather than how in the initial stages of
  product development
• (Of course we have to look at how to create a
  product, but this is done later in the process)

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Steps in developing context based scenarios
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Steps in developing context based scenarios
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Create problem vision statements

• The problem statement defines the objective of
  the product (or design for Cooper)
• It defines what needs to change for both the
  personas (users) and the organization
• The vision statement defines at a high level what
  the ideal solution will look like for both the
  user and the organization

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Example

• Problem statement
• Company X has recently tried to grow its market
  share in the profitable 55 holidays market
  segment by 15, but has not been successful as it
  conducts its business online only. This is
  because 55 users feel that online travel agents
  lack the personal touch to design a holiday
  specifically for them and so they continue to use
  high street travel agents
• Vision statement
• Company Xs new online booking system will allow
  55 users to create individually tailored
  holidays comparable with those purchased at high
  street travel agents in a way equivalent or
  better than via a high street travel agent. This
  will allow company X to reach their goal of
  increasing their market share by 15

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Brainstorm solutions

• Brainstorming is a process of generating ideas on
  a specific topic quickly
• In context based scenarios its role is to get
  your initial ideas for solutions out of your head
  so that you can look at the problem more openly
• These solutions might not be the final solution!
• But getting rid of preconceived ideas can open
  your thinking to other solutions

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Identify persona expectations

• The purpose of this stage is to identify the
  goals and expectations of the personas
• Based on the personas you should be able to
  decide what they would expect the product to
  deliver (their end goals) and how they would
  expect it to work in an ideal world (their
  experience goals)
• This can also be done via brainstorming too (but
  only after the solution brainstorming)

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Construct context scenarios

• Context scenarios are stories that put the
  persona into a real-life situation where they
  use the product
• Imagine situations where the persona(s) have to
  use the product to achieve their goals in
  everyday terms
• Write them down and storyboard them
• Do not focus on tasks, just what they want to
  achieve
• Pretend for now that the product is magic
• Be general

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Things to consider in constructing context
scenarios

• What are the key activities that the persona
  needs to do to achieve their goals?
• What is their expected end goal(s) from using the
  product
• Where and when will the product be used?
• Will be used for a long or for a short amount of
  time?
• Is the persona frequently interrupted?
• What other products are used with this product?
• What is the skill, knowledge levels of the
  persona - is complexity allowed?

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Storyboards

• Cooper does not recommend making a storyboard for
  context based scenarios
• However, they can be useful
• Visualizing the story helps
• Clarity
• Consistency
• Communication
• We recommend that you do this here

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Example storyboard
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Identifying user needs

• Having written (and storyboarded) your scenario
  you can now look to see what the user needs are
• Needs consist of
• Objects - actual things they need such as
  screens, buttons, etc.
• Actions - things they need to be able to do such
  as sending email, paying, etc.

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Next stages - good advice
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Summary

• Scenarios are used in the early stages of a
  product development process to
• Identify user needs
• Develop initial interaction design
• Refine design and deal with exceptions
• Scenarios are based on personas
• Focus on goals not tasks
• Context scenario development is the first stage
  of the process