Requirements Gathering

…along with Ethics

Agenda

Questions? Project part 0 Requirements gathering Ethics

Part 0

DUE Wednesday!

Form your group Choose a topic Pick a name Create a project page on the Wiki with all that

info

Topic comments

Topic must have a computer interface component– Can have a physical component as well

Think about the problem not just solution– “device to help elderly person keep in touch with

family”

Vs.– “a cell phone with large buttons and font”

Why are requirements important?

To understand what we are going to be doing We build systems for others, not for

ourselves Requirements definition: the stage where

failure occurs most commonly Getting requirements right is crucial

Functional vs. NonFunctional

Historically requirements

Features, functions that the system should do

Properties of the overall system

“-ilities” (quality, evolveability, flexibility, etc.)

Usability requirements

Not just “requirements”

Overall goals, success criteria User characteristics Task analysis Environment – physical, social, technical Constraints Usability goals, criteria

(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

Physical Environment

Amount of space to work Lighting levels / directions Noise level Temperature, humidity, dust… Standing / sitting Power availability Dangers

Implications?

Technical Environment

Computers/platforms for application Technology to interact with Networking Mobility

Implications?

Social Environment

How do users interact with system? Roles? How do users interact with others? Social implications of problem or solution?

– Interruption– Privacy

Implications?

Reminder: 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

Stakeholders

Primary – targeted end users Secondary – receive output or provide input

to system Tertiary – others directly receiving benefits

from system success or failure Facilitating – design, development,

maintenance

Stakeholder analysis

Cell phone

Airport check-in kiosk

Task Analysis

• Process of analyzing and documenting how people perform their tasks or activities

• Learn what users do, why they do it, how they do it, when they do it, with what tools or people they do it

• Task-subtask decomposition

• More next week…

Typical Real-World Constraints

Elapsed time to market Cost/effort to design and implement Size/footprint/weight/power/price Computer power/memory (related to cost and power) Consistency with overall product line Backward compatibility Differentiation from competitive products

Usability Requirements

Usability goals: such as learnability, consistency, robustness, etc.

Ways to measure and judge success– Time to complete key tasks - min, max– Time to become proficient - do given set of tasks in given

time– Subjective satisfaction

Example

What factors (environmental, user, usability) would affect the following systems?

• 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

Train location web page

For Charlotte light rail:– User characteristics– Context: Environment, types of users– Constraints: device, market, etc.– Functional requirements– Non-functional requirements

(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

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

Watch user(s) doing activity of interest to you Possibly video or audio record (with

permission)

Swap cell phones and observe each other– Look up most recently called and return call– Add your name to the phone book

Impressions?

What was surprising? What problems did you observe? How would this be different in real world? How did you feel about being observed?

Think out loud

Problem: how do you know WHY someone does what they do?

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

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

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

Example: airport check-in kiosk

What could you observe? How could you use think aloud?

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

Domain Expert Interviews

Expert describes how it should be done (not necessarily how it is done)

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

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

Questionnaires - Example

See ID 7.5 for more tips

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)

Example: airport check-in

Who to interview? What questions? Who to give questionnaire to? What

questions? What about focus group?

What are differences between methods?

Study Documentation

Similar in some ways to the expert interview Often describe how things should be done

rather than how they are done– Try to understand why not done “by the book”

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

Difficult to use talking out loud in public

– 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

Working with People

Issues of rights, respect, ethics

YOU will be observing and talking to people to:– Gather requirements– Get initial design feedback– Perform evaluations of your design

Important to be professional with any interaction with potential users

Why an issue?

Usability testing can be arduous; privacy is important

Each person should know and understand what they are participating in:

– what to expect, time commitments– what the potential risks are– how their information will be used

Must be able to stop without danger or penalty All participants to be treated with respect

Consent

Why important?– People can be sensitive about this process and issues – Errors will likely be made, participant may feel

inadequate– May be mentally or physically strenuous

What are the potential risks (there are always risks)?– Examples?

“Vulnerable” populations need special care & consideration – Children; disabled; pregnant; students (why?)

IRB, Participants, & Ethics

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Federal law governs procedures Reviews all research involving human (or animal)

participants Safeguarding the participants, and thereby the

researcher and university Not a science review (i.e., not to asess your

research ideas); only safety & ethics

IRB @ UNCC

http://www.research.uncc.edu/comp/chuman.cfm

On-line tutorial Guidelines Consent procedures and template forms Protocol application forms

Ethics certification– Standardized training to ensure everyone

understands the issues

Personas masquerading as marketing

He wishes there were an easier way.

It would be good for her to have a device on hand to …It be really nice if she could… He knows that a better system could be implemented ...She wishes for an interface for her clients to…He wishes there was a device for kids to use that…He wants a system that will…She would love to find a simple system that...

And throw in sunshine and apple pie while you’re at it

Personas masquerading as design critics

Having trouble/suffering/unhappy because interfaces and computers are so bad

Knows that product X is causing problems because of bad design

Wishes interfaces were better designed/easier to use

Personas ARE:

Representations of user characteristics…– Is a user characteristic that your user already

knows and wants your exact product? (wishful thinking)

– Understands bad designs?

Method of communicating useful and relevant user information