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Company and Customer Insight forInformation Architects
Adaptive Path
www.adaptivepath.com/presentations/insight/
Jesse James Garrett <[email protected]>
Peter Merholz <[email protected]>
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 2
The Adaptive Path Perspective
• There is no “One True Way”
• The success of a project requires not only a firm
understanding of users’ needs, but an appreciation for the
business’ requirements and processes
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 3
Mental Model ValidateDiagram &Prototype
InitialDiscovery
AudienceDefinition
Content Audit
Task Analysis
Prioritiztaion
Goal Mapping and Mental Model
Current State Analysis
Align MM & Content
Define the Audience
Prioritize
IA &Interaction
Diagrams and Prototypes
Overview of a UCD Process
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 4
About the Project
• iRemodel.com – leading home improvement portal
• Features:– Tutorial Content for users new to home improvement– Idea File– Product database with comparison engiine– Contractor/architect locator– Budget estimator
• New features:– Kitchen design “center”– Contractor’s management application
Internal Discovery
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 6
What Is Discovery?
Useful and often overlooked tool for understanding business needs and context (rather than user needs and context)
• An early opportunity to head off problems before they happen
• Answer important questions about the project: – Why do it? (Business/Marketing purpose)
– What does it do? (Scope/Definition)
– Who cares about it? (Stakeholders/Decision Makers)
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 7
If you don’t do discovery you’ll regret it.
It’s like starting the movie without finishing the script, the casting,
hiring a caterer…
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 8
10 Ways Projects Can Bite Back
1. Project gets bogged down in approvals
2. Your assumptions about the goals of the project are way off base
3. You discover half-way through that the scope is much greater than you imagined
4. Feature creep
5. Disenfranchised people become obstacles
6. Nobody listens to you…even though you’re supposedly “in charge”
7. Nobody understands what you’re saying (maybe because you don’t have the same understanding of the project)
8. Someone important and powerful (e.g., the CEO) hates the final solution a week before launch
9. Your final solution, though cool, doesn’t solve the original problem
10. Your proposed solution can’t be implemented
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 9
Purpose of Discovery (Soft)
• Understand the context in which you are working– Political landscape– Stakeholders– Decision structures (who/how/when)– Business mandates– Technologies
• Build relationships– Introduce yourself– Explain what you do– Get to know everyone involved (listen)– Communicate your goals internally as well as externally
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 10
Purpose of Discovery (Concrete)
• Define project criteria– Stakeholders– Definitions– Scope – Business mandate
• Formulate strategies– Resources– Methods– Process– Schedule– Budget
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 11
How this Affects You
• Overcoming denial– Explicit acknowledgement = explicit approach
• Your project can fail from the outset if you ignore or avoid
these questions:– What is your relationship with your organization?– How effectively do you communicate your value to the key
stakeholders on your project?
• Develop valuable skills:– Learn the company language (jargon not buzzwords)– Understand the decision-making environment you're working in– Play the game (it is a game -- “ironic detachment”)
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 12
Potential Roadblocks to Doing Discovery
• Schedule pressure
• Stakeholders don’t see the value
• Lack of access to key players (distance, vacation, schedule
conflicts, etc.)
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 13
Method: Kickoff Meeting
• Purpose:– Introduce yourself, team, and the stakeholders– Explain the project– Let stakeholders know how they will be involved– Establish working relationships; get the team “on board”
• Form: Presentation and discussion
• Timing: Beginning of discovery
• Content: Goals, team, process, schedule, and deliverables
• Leave-behinds: Project plan (draft only), presentation slides
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 14
Method: Project Sponsor Interviews
• Who: The most senior person (people) who had to approve the
project (who’s signing the check?) and possibly their peers
• Purpose:– Understand political context– Define decision process– Understand business imperative and goals– Learn what other departments should be included and how
• Form: One-on-one conversations
• Timing: After kickoff
• Leave-behinds: Project plan (draft only)
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 15
Method: Stakeholder Group Sessions
• Who: Key stakeholders
• Purpose:– Discover expectations for the project– Discuss pain points, features– Make people feel involved– Establish cross-departmental communication among stakeholders
• Form: Similar to focus groups
• Timing: After kickoff
• Leave-behinds: None
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 16
Method: Stakeholder One-on-Ones
• Who: All kinds of stakeholders
• Purpose:– Learn details about the project– Let people know that they can talk to you (i.e., listen!)– Venting – Talk through definitions, goals, methods, processes– Solidify requirements and discover potential roadblocks– Identify existing documentation
• Form: Informal conversations
• Timing: After kickoff
• Leave-behinds: None
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 17
Method: Review of Existing Documentation
• Gather and review previous materials – any documentation
that seems relevant. It might be: – Server logs– Previous product specs– Usability or other research– Explanation of key technologies
• Even if there’s nothing to review, showing interest will go a
long way toward establishing relationships
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 18
Discovery Deliverables Vary
• Summarize your findings for distribution to the stakeholders
and/or project sponsor– Lets people review what they’ve said and correct as necessary– Review of docs will show that you’re leveraging prior investments– Contents include business goals, any mandatory features,
assumptions, definitions
• Formal documentation: MRD, PRD, Project Brief, etc.
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 19
Current State Research: Figure Out What You Have
TASK ANALYSIS
Initial Discovery
User ResearchUser DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Mental Model
Content Audit
Mental Model
Content Model
Define the Audience
Align MM & Content
User Task Interviews
Task Data Analysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Prioritize Features
Content Model
Current StateResearch
CompetitiveReview
Content ModelDiagram
IA &Interaction
Diagrams and Prototypes
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 20
Four Things To Look At
• Content
• Architecture
• Interaction
• Technology
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 21
Content - What To Do
• Walk through the existing site
• Pay attention to details of implementation
• Don’t think like a user – but don’t forget the user either
• Ideally developed by another member of your team
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 22
General Rules
• Use existing documentation
• Use the knowledge in people’s heads
• Do all four activities concurrently
Final Goal: “Blueprints” of the existing site
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 23
Exploring Content
• Content audit looks at broad categories – Sampling of pages– Sufficient for most projects
• A more detailed content inventory looks is more thorough– Make a big list of every piece and its URL– Give each piece a unique ID– Use this for CMS and other migration projects
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 24
Identify Broad Types of Content
• Typical Examples:– Executive biographies– Press releases– Product descriptions– Product documentation– Contact information– Tutorials– Case studies
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 25
Content Audit - Basic Questions
For each piece of content on the site, ask:
• What is it about?
• Who is it for?
• What type is it?
• Where does it come from?
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 26
Content Audit - Strategic Questions
• Check for content “ROT”
• Is it redundant?
• Is it outdated?
• Is it trivial?
• Is it in line with current thinking?
• Does it have historical value?
-->In other words... can we get rid of it?
Traffic analysis can help answer these questions.
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 27
Content Audit - Final Result
• Spreadsheet with hundreds or thousands of lines, one line per
page
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 28
Architecture
Q: Can you automate the architecture review?
A: Not really.
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 29
Typical Site-Mapping Tool Output
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 30
What You Actually Need To Know
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 31
The Desired Result
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 32
Interaction Review
• Walk through existing interactive functionality– Registration process– Shopping cart– Newsletter signup– Etc.
• Play out scenarios with a test account
• Document interaction
• Think like a QA tester – try to generate errors
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 33
Documenting Interactions:
The Visual Vocabulary
http://jjg.net/ia/visvocab/
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 34
Technology Review
• Identify technologies during walk-through:– Server-side technologies such as Cold Fusion, JSP, PHP, etc.– Client-side technologies such as DHTML, JavaScript, etc.
• Talk to the technical people
• Don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions
• Ask “What’s that connected to?”
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 35
Current State Analysis Deliverables
Content Audit Spreadsheet or database showing
content by type and topic
Architecture Outlines or diagrams of site structureReview
Interaction ReviewDiagrams, notes, lists
Technology Review Technical brief
User Research
or...
There’s No “You” in “User”
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 37
You Are Not Your Audience
• You do not– see things like they do– know what they know– want what they want– work how they work
• This is critical information when designing a product
So how do you figure out all of these things?…
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 38
…User Research!
• The study of what makes peoples’ lives difficult and how to
make them easier
– NeedsWhat people need to make their life easier
– DesiresWhat they want (does not equate to what they need)
– AbilitiesWhat they can understand and do
– MethodsHow they do things now
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 39
Three Types of User Research for Design
• Conceptual – what users need
• Preference – what users want
• Ability – what users can do
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 40
Conceptual Research (“need”)
• Timing: Early in the design process
• Purpose: Investigates needs and methods
• Techniques:
– Task Analysis/Contextual Inquiry
– Surveys
– Ethnography
Outcome: “Raises the ceiling” on design by encouraging
innovative thought at the very outset of design
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 41
Preference Research (“like”)
• Timing: Mid-process
• Purpose: Investigates desires, expectations, priorities
• Techniques:
– Surveys
– Focus Groups
– Interviews
– Card sorting
Outcome: “Raises the floor” by ensuring that design
solutions appeals to the desired audience
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 42
Ability Research (“do”)
• Timing: End of the process (and the beginning of the next iteration).
• Purpose: Investigates abilities and reactions
• Pre-Launch Techniques:
– Prototypes (paper and mockup)
– Usability Testing
• Post-Launch Techniques:
– Log analysis
– Customer feedback analysis
Outcome: “Raises the floor” by ensuring that design solutions
are usable for the desired audience
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 43
User Research Tips
• Test often– No matter what stage your product is in, there's always some
research you can do
• Test what’s testable– Time the research for the needs of the product and the abilities of
the development team– Example: Don't research label wording before you know whether
the audience wants the function it's naming
• Avoid research paralysis
– It's OK to make decisions without first asking people, just don’t make all your decisions that way
– Don’t get distracted by research and forget the product
• Be open-minded
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 44
User Research in the Design Process - Ideal
• Highly iterative
• Many small steps, rather than a few giant ones
• Research at every step
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 45
User Research in the Design Process – Practical
• Linear process
• One big step for each type of user research (conceptual,
preference, ability)
• Handed off at the end, as opposed to beginning the cycle
again
Goal Mapping and Mental Models
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 47
What is a Mental Model?
How the user thinks about and approaches
their tasks and goals
Within a defined system of interaction
(…distinct from a Web experience)
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 48
What is a Mental Model?
Grocery Shopping
Prepare shopping list
Look in fridgeTalk to spouse
Walk the store aisles
Does the car need gas?
How much time do I have?
Plan meals
Look for discountsClip coupons
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 49
What Does a Mental Model Look Like?
Our Mental Model Diagram looks like this, with tasks arranged
into ever-broader groupings:
Refine Requirements
Find Out What OtherPeople Say
Set TechnologyRequirements Get Proposals
Find Out High-LevelInformation
Find Vendors
Get Input from Peoplewithin Company
Research CorporateNeeds
UnderstandExistingProcess
Determine theROI
Set Requirements
Set FeatureRequirements
Set ReportRequirements
Set DataStorage
Requirements
Set SecurityRequirements
Set IntegrationRequirements
Solicit End-User Input for
Features
Get Buy-Infrom KeyPlayers
Get Buy-Infrom IT
DepartmentFind Vendors
Write Requestsfor Proposals
ReadProposals
Get Input fromOther
Customers
Read VendorMarketingMaterials
DistrustMarketingMaterial
Read ReviewsAttend
Conferences
Explore Web-Based
Solutions
ExploreWirelessSolutions
RefineRequirements
Based onResearch
Research the ProductsResearch the Needs
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 50
What Is Goal Mapping?
• Conceptual research that produces a Mental Model Diagram
• A deep analysis of user tasks and goals
• “Break it down, then build it up”
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 51
Why Perform Goal Mapping?
• Helps you figure out what features are important to your
users, and what they would call those features
• Ensures that the design meets those user requirements as
well as the business requirements
• Provides a way to trace back all aspects of the interface to the
user’s task flow
• So that you can create a Mental Model Diagram, which is
really cool
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 52
Gathering User Task Data
TASK ANALYSIS
Initial Discovery
User ResearchUser DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Mental Model
Content Audit
Mental Model
Content Model
Define the Audience
Align MM & Content
User Task Interviews
Task Data Analysis
Mental ModelDiagram
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 53
Gather Task Data: Define the Audience
• Examine target market data and personas
• Gather and review data from previous research– competitive analysis, usability studies, log data
• Form groups of target audiences with descriptions and
priorities
• Revisit groups after task analysis– possibly redefine as users have defined themselves
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 54
Gather Task Data: Prepare for the Interview
• Recruit participants– Screener– Recruiter or friends and family– More on this tomorrow...
• Select a workflow to explore
• Prepare the discussion guide– Focus on exploring all the tasks in the workflow– The key verb is “do” not “feel”– Don’t assume the Web or other technological solutions
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 55
Gather Task Data: Conduct Interviews
• Use “ethnographic inquiry” techniques – Encourage open answers, rather than to lead the interviewee in
any preconceived direction– Use predefined questions as prompts in a conversation, not a
verbatim script– Allow the interviewee to direct the flow of conversation
• Interview about 5 people per audience type
• Prepare verbatim transcripts
End Result: Detailed notes from a series of interviews
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 56
Next We Analyze the Transcripts
TASK ANALYSIS
Initial Discovery
User ResearchUser DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Mental Model
Content Audit
Mental Model
Content Model
Define the Audience
Align MM & Content
User Task Interviews
Task Data AnalysisTask DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 57
Transcript Analysis: What Is It?
• An extremely detailed analysis of what your users said they do
to accomplish their goals
• A depersonalized way to understand your target audience– All users within a particular audience set are lumped together
• Less concerned with sequential order of tasks than with
sensible grouping of tasks
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 58
Transcript Analysis: How Do You Do It?
• Scan interview transcripts for ‘tasks’
• Copy each task to the atomic task table
• Notice patterns across users. Group similar atomic tasks
together under one task name
• Adjust these groups as the patterns grow and shift
• Estimate 4 hours per interview
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 59
Transcript Analysis: Develop Conceptual Groups
• Arrange the tasks into conceptual groups based on:– Steps the users described– Similarity of tasks
• Do this for each audience, if there are multiple audiences
• Compare results between audiences and combine if
appropriate
• Alphabetize conceptual groups for easy reference
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 60
Transcript Analysis: End Result
• A set of conceptual groups and their constituent tasks for each
audience
• An appreciation for which tasks are common and more
important
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 61
…Leading To a Diagram of the User’s Understanding
TASK ANALYSIS
Initial Discovery
User ResearchUser DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Mental Model
Content Audit
Mental Model
Content Model
Define the Audience
Align MM & Content
User Task Interviews
Task Data AnalysisTask DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 62
A Portion of a Mental Model Diagram
Refine Drawings andPresent them
Design Work Plan
Research SpecificProject Needs
Work with Architect/Designer
Read PlansRead Bookson Project
Get Up ToDate on Any
Codes
Talk to OtherBuilders
Work with CADDrawings
Use Simple 3DDesign Tools
Manage CADPackage
Print Plans
ReuseDrawings fromPast Projects
Plan Design
Keep inContact with
Designer
Transmit Files
Present Designs toClient
Take Notes
PresentDrawings to
Client
Show ExamplePhotographs
RefineDrawings
Present NewDrawings
Cost Out The Design
Develop Range ofMaterials andProducts Cost
Get PriceEstimates
ResearchMaterials
Develop Range ofLabor Cost
ContactSubcontractors
FindSubcontractors
GetSubcontractorCost Estimates
Find Products
CompareProducts
Talk toSuppliers
Read Catalogs
Talk to otherBuilders
Prepare CostEstimate
Put Numbersand Ranges in
Excel
Compare NewEstimate with
Original
Present CostEstimate to Client
DiscussRanges
Show NumberRanges
Show Productsand Materials
Options
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 63
Mental Model Diagram: What Is It?
• A simple visualization of how users think about the workflow
you explored in the interviews
• With transcript analysis, you broke activities down into their
most basic elements
• With the mental model diagram, you build them back up into
meaningful groups
• Meaningful groups are presented left-to-right, across a
landscape
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 64
Diagram Mental Model: How Do You Build It?
• Copy all the tasks and conceptual groups into a drawing tool
(we use Visio)
• Gather these groups into increasingly general super-groups
• Arrange the super-groups into a meaningful order, if possible
• Name your super-groups with verbs, not nouns
• Make it a team effort – one person makes a first draft, but
team members and clients should participate in refining it
Personas and Scenarios
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 66
What Is a Persona?
• A fictitious person for whom you are designing
• Represents the archetypal qualities of your audience
• Plural: “personas” not “personae”– It’s ... well ... less pretentious
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 67
Why Personas?
• Provides focus for the design– Talk about “Lori” not “the user”
• Humanizes the design
• Remarkably effective for bringing user-centered design into an
organization
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 68
Researching Personas
• Along with mental model, an output of the task analysis
research
• Market research and segmentation
• User interviews and observation
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 69
Developing Personas
Building up various personal attributes into personas based on
existing market research and segmentation, plus any user
interviews and observation you’ve done
• Demographic– Age, Gender, Occupation
• Psychographic– Goals, tasks, motivation
• “Webographic”– Net usage and experience, gear, usage habits, favorite sites
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 70
Personalizing Personas
• Name them
• Have photos of them– Stock images, images.google.com
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 71
Personas Are Not:
• Demographic ranges– “18-34 year old college educated females making $50K”
• Job Descriptions– “IT managers in Fortune 1000 with purchasing power for routers”
• Your CEO– “Mr. Burns wants to be able to use his WebTV on the site”
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 72
Personas Are:
• Stereotypes– This isn’t an exercise in politically correct thinking– Edge cases can lead you off track, e.g. male nurses, private pilots
• Design targets, not sales targets
• Tools for thinking about features and functions, not character
studies
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 73
Persona Chart
Steven Joy and Eric
Age27
OccupationLicensed General Contractor
Net usage5 hours per week, cable modem,
my.yahoo.com, cnn.com, theonion.com
GearDell Pentium III, 750Mhz, 17” monitor,
Quickbooks Pro, MS Outlook
Trigger for actionLooking for expanded base of customer
referrals,
Ultimate GoalOnline referral and project tracking.
Familiarity/AnxietyHard drive crash in 1994 made taxes a
nightmare that year. Worried about security.
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 74
How Many Personas?
• 3 or 4 usually suffice
• Focus on one “primary” persona– Not necessarily the primary business target– The persona whom, if satisfied, means others will more likely be
satisfied
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 75
Personas in the Organization
• Turn personas into big posters, place throughout organization
• Encourage people to think about specific personas, not
“users”
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 76
Scenarios
• Stories of personas engaged in tasks or achieving goals
• Narrative structure enforces “making sense”
• The flow of writing feels more “real” than the discrete
collections of tasks and attributes
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 77
Writing Scenarios
• Keep the task focused – 4 to 5 paragraphs
• Incorporate the persona’s environment
• Make them messy
• Try not to design while writing
• Write three or four scenarios per persona
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 78
Benefits of Scenarios
• Allows for a holistic description of the user’s experience– Context, context, context– From inside the user’s head to the environment surrounding them
• Excellent communication tool – all humans understand stories– Works well across multi-disciplinary teams
• Fleshes out persona’s “existence”
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 79
Potential Pitfalls
• The Scenario Where Everything Works Like Magic
• Digressing too much
• Too much response from a designed system
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 80
Using Scenarios
• Help others understand users’ needs and desires
• Continually referenced throughout the design process– Keep your designs ‘honest’
• Provide a personal context to task analysis
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 81
The Process: Two Tracks
TASK ANALYSIS
Initial Discovery
User ResearchUser DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Mental Model
Content Audit
Mental Model
Content Model
Define the Audience
Align MM & Content
User Task Interviews
Task Data Analysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Prioritize Features
Content Model
Current StateResearch
CompetitiveReview
Content ModelDiagram
IA &Interaction
Diagrams and Prototypes
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 82
Comparing What We Have To What Users Want
TASK ANALYSIS
Initial Discovery
User ResearchUser DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Mental Model
Content Audit
Mental Model
Content Model
Define the Audience
User Task Interviews
Task Data AnalysisTask DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Align MM & Content
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 83
Comparison of Mental Model to Available Material
• This is where it begins to come together
• Slot content, functionality, and business goals where it
supports audiences’ mental model
• Make sure to address every significant content area
• If the project is “from scratch” and there are not many explicit
features, etc., use the mental model to drive product
requirements
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 84
Comparison – Very Much a Team Effort
• Clients and stakeholders are essential in this process
• Need domain expertise to ensure completeness
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 85
Comparison – Gap Analysis
• Ideal – Every task in the audiences’ mental model is served by
content and functionality
• Practical – That is never the case
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 86
Refine Drawings andPresent them
Design Work Plan
Research SpecificProject Needs
Work with Architect/Designer
Assess Site
Read PlansRead Bookson Project
Get Up ToDate on Any
Codes
Talk to OtherBuilders
Work with CADDrawings
Use Simple 3DDesign Tools
Take Pictures
Measure Site
Take Notes
Manage CADPackage
Print Plans
ReuseDrawings fromPast Projects
Plan Design
Keep inContact with
Designer
Transmit Files
Present Designs toClient
Take Notes
PresentDrawings to
Client
Show ExamplePhotographs
RefineDrawings
Present NewDrawings
Cost Out The Design
Develop Range ofMaterials andProducts Cost
Get PriceEstimates
ResearchMaterials
Develop Range ofLabor Cost
ContactSubcontractors
FindSubcontractors
GetSubcontractorCost Estimates
Talk toSuppliers
Read Catalogs
Talk to otherBuilders
Prepare CostEstimate
Put Numbersand Ranges in
Excel
Compare NewEstimate with
Original
Present CostEstimate to Client
DiscussRanges
Show NumberRanges
Show Productsand Materials
Options
Kitchen LayoutTool
Buying andSelectionGuides
Design IdeasArticles
Shopping Cart
ProductTrends
StoreHouse Plans
Library
Building CodesHouse Plans
Library
Cost Estimator
Tiling Guide(Ortho Book)
Loan Center
ConsumerGuides
How To Hire AContractor
VendorManagement
Guides
Kitchen LayoutTool
Lighting LayoutTool
Pre-designedKitchen
Templates
ProjectWorksheets
Gap Type 1 – User Needs Not Supported by Content
• Could be an important oversight in the content of the site
• Could be be an activity not appropriate for web content
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 87
Gap Type 2 – Content Available But No User Need
• Could be extraneous content not worth maintaining (R.O.T.)
• Could be an important way to empower the user
Refine Drawings andPresent them
Design Work Plan
Research SpecificProject Needs
Work with Architect/Designer
Assess Site
Read PlansRead Bookson Project
Get Up ToDate on Any
Codes
Talk to OtherBuilders
Work with CADDrawings
Use Simple 3DDesign Tools
Take Pictures
Measure Site
Take Notes
Manage CADPackage
Print Plans
ReuseDrawings fromPast Projects
Plan Design
Keep inContact with
Designer
Transmit Files
Present Designs toClient
Take Notes
PresentDrawings to
Client
Show ExamplePhotographs
RefineDrawings
Present NewDrawings
Cost Out The Design
Develop Range ofMaterials andProducts Cost
Get PriceEstimates
ResearchMaterials
Develop Range ofLabor Cost
ContactSubcontractors
FindSubcontractors
GetSubcontractorCost Estimates
Talk toSuppliers
Read Catalogs
Talk to otherBuilders
Prepare CostEstimate
Put Numbersand Ranges in
Excel
Compare NewEstimate with
Original
Kitchen LayoutTool
Buying andSelectionGuides
Design IdeasArticles
Shopping Cart
ProductTrends
StoreHouse Plans
Library
Building CodesHouse Plans
Library
Cost Estimator
Tiling Guide(Ortho Book)
Loan Center
ConsumerGuides
How To Hire AContractor
VendorManagement
Guides
Kitchen LayoutTool
Lighting LayoutTool
Pre-designedKitchen
Templates
ProjectWorksheets
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 88
Let’s Look at What We Have
• A diagram depicting the audience’s mental model across the
top, and the company’s supporting material beneath it
• Fuzzy’ user data has developed into a solid, rigorous model
• A foundation from which to build the information architecture
Prioritizing:
What do we do first…second…never?
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 90
Prioritize the Features
TASK ANALYSIS
Initial Discovery
User ResearchUser DataAnalysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Mental Model
Content Audit
Mental Model
Content Model
Define the Audience
Align MM & Content
User Task Interviews
Task Data Analysis
Mental ModelDiagram
Prioritize Features
Content Model
Current StateResearch
CompetitiveReview
Content ModelDiagram
IA &Interaction
Diagrams and Prototypes
Align the MM &Content Model
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 91
Step 1: The “Big List”
1. Content Analysis and Content Map
2. Ten people in a room for an hour or two
• Talk through scenarios
• Blue sky
• Focus on what it should be (brainstorming rules)
• General Rule: People don’t have any problem telling you what they
want, as long as they don’t have to make it or pay for it.
• Real Challenge: Choosing which features to build
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 92
Step 2: Identify Dependencies and Baseline
• What things must happen first? What are the mandatory
groupings?
• What is baseline? What are the “Must-Haves” that you can’t
launch without?
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 93
Step 3: Have Stakeholders Figure Out
• Feasibility: easy or hard, expensive or not, short or long to implement
Rate each item in the list 1 = low feasibility 5 = high feasibility
• Importance: to business, to user
Rate each item in the list 1 = low importance 5 = high importance
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 94
Step 4: Graph the Findings
Importance
Feasibility
High importance+Low feasibility =
Watch for new technology
High importance+High feasibility =
Do Now
Low importance+ High feasibility =
Consider
Low importance+ Low feasibility =
Don’t Bother
LOW
HI
HI LOW
15 March 2002 Jesse James Garrett and Peter Merholz · [email protected] · Company and Customer Insight for IAs 95
Thanks!
• http://adaptivepath.com/presentations/insight/