Planning a Site Visit

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Planning a Site Visit
Rob Houser rob_at_userfirst.net
www.userfirst.net
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Introduction

• To make technology that fits human beings, it is
  necessary to study human beings. But now we tend
  to study only the technology. As a result, people
  are required to conform to technology.
• - Donald Norman

• To make technology that fits human beings, it is
  necessary to study human beings. But now we tend
  to study only the technology. As a result, people
  are required to conform to technology.
• - Donald Norman

• To make technology that fits human beings, it is
  necessary to study human beings. But now we tend
  to study only the technology. As a result, people
  are required to conform to technology.
• - Donald Norman

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Introduction
Requirements Document

• How can we define the requirements for a usable
  system before we understand who will use it, what
  problems it will solve, and how it will be used
  in the workplace?

We cant!

• What comes first in the development process of
  most engineering-oriented organizations?

• What comes first in the development process of
  most engineering-driven organizations?

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Introduction

• New products should be created to solve specific
  user problems
• A requirements document should describe how the
  application will behave in the users environment
  to solve those specific problems under real-world
  constraints

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Introduction

• To design a usable product, we need information
  about users, their tasks, and their environment
  (situation)
• The environment of use has been ignored for many
  years in our field
• Usability experts now emphasize that users and
  tasks are situational

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Introduction
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Introduction

• The closer we can get to the user, the more
  realistic (valuable) the data

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What is a site visit?

• Method for gathering information about users,
  tasks, and environment
• Asking questions of users and/or watching them
  work in their workplace
• Sometimes called a contextual inquiry or
  ethnographic interview

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Why perform a site visit?

• Determine product requirements
• Set benchmarks for measuring usability (usability
  objectives)
• Reveal true workflow that users follow on the job
• Improve our ability to design more usable
  products in the future

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Who should perform site visits?

• Everyone on the design team should be involved
  early in the planning process to increase buy in
  and improve the quality of the site visit
• May limit the number of people who actually go to
  a single site
• Everyone involved with the design of products
  should go on-site sometime

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When do you perform site visits?

• Early in the development process, during the
  analysis phase
• Ideally before design
• Its possible to perform them even before the
  product exists

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Step 1 Get permission

• Persuade your manager
• Increases the value (contribution) of your
  department
• Gets your department involved earlier in the
  development process
• Helps your department design and prioritize
  documentation projects

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Step 1 Get permission

• Persuade development
• User/task information helps design more usable
  products
• Information gathered can be shared, benefiting
  multiple departments
• Identifying real world use and constraints up
  front reduces redesign
• You can help collect data to allow them to
  investigate technical issues

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Step 1 Get permission

• Persuade sales and marketing
• You are going to observe and ask questions about
  the users and their tasks, not to discuss cost or
  direction
• Listening to users will make them feel that your
  company cares about them
• Designing a more usable product will make it
  easier to sell (part of sales story)

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Step 1 Get permission

• Persuade the customer
• Information will be confidential
• Every attempt will be made to minimize
  interruption to the users work
• Gathering user/task info up front helps design a
  product that makes users more productive and
  requires less training

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Step 2 Review what you know

• Use traditional heuristic methods of audience
  analysis
• Read all existing survey data, trip reports, and
  usability reports
• Query customer support knowledge bases for common
  problems
• Interview trainers, product managers, sales, and
  marketing

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Step 3 Brainstorm questions

• Create a list of questions that need to be
  answered during the site visit
• What do you still need to know about users and
  their tasks?
• What pivotal assumptions do you need to verify?
• Are there any design assumptions that need to be
  validated already?

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Step 4 Select target areas

• Pick the most important questions to help set
  goals for the site visits
• What category of users are most important for the
  products success?
• What tasks are the most critical?
• What tasks are the most environmentally
  dependent?
• How many different environments exist?
• What would improve the product most?

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Step 5 Identify potential sites

• Work closely with marketing, sales, and product
  management to identify potential user sites
• Emphasize the difference between users and
  customers (buyers)
• Try to get a representative sample of your user
  group (3-5 for each type)

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Step 6 Prepare to record data

• Create data collection sheets
• Decide if you will use audio or video recording
• Consider taking a disposable camera
• Create release forms for pictures
• Develop any additional surveys you want users to
  complete in person

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Step 7 Assign team roles

• Decide who will ask questions and who will
  record data
• Divide the work into focus areas
• Front End v. Back Office
• Training/Documentation v. Performance
• Cashiers v. Supervisors v. Managers
• Pair inexperienced with experienced
• Create checklists for each team member

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Step 8 Create a schedule

• Decide how much time you can spend with each user
• Break down the time into each activity that you
  need to complete
• Be prepared for variations adapt to the
  situation as it unfolds
• Keep your eyes open for unexpected opportunities

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Step 9 Practice

• Run through the list of questions for the
  interviews
• Practice observing a work situation in your
  company and compare notes about the observations
  you make
• Fill in the data collection sheets
• Test all equipment

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Step 10 Prepare the customer

• Make sure the customers know when you will be at
  their site
• Emphasize that you will be observing and
  interviewing users doing their jobs, not just
  talking to the supervisors
• Ask the customer to provide access to all levels
  of users (not just experts)

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Final stages of a site visit

• Conduct the site visit
• Analyze the data
• Report your findings
• Use the data to create or improve the design

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Conclusion

• People and tasks come first interfaces come
  second. -
  Donald Norman