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3.1.4. Actions and Objects Derived from Marketing Input and Human Factors Input
Once the team has agreed upon the set of goals that the product will support, the necessary actions and objects need to be identified. We start by extracting the current set of actions and objects identified in our interviews about tasks with users. These objects are used as the beginning of the objects that need to be visible in the user interface. The design also needs to support the actions (collected to date) that will have to be performed on the various objects. We add to the framework the objects and actions needed to support marketing goals as the task for those goals are defined. For example, to register a product a user needs a registration form that can be filled in, modified, and sent to the company. The goals that will be supported and the actions and objects that are needed for those goals provide us with a starting point for considering possible metaphors and designs that can be used to present the functionality to users.
3.1.5. New User Tasks and Subtasks
Engineering input to the framework occurs continually through product definition, design, and implementation. Initially there may be some engineering input based on known technology constraints. As we work with design possibilities the new user tasks are produced. This refers to automating a currently manual task or streamlining an already automated task. The new user tasks can introduce new objects and actions into the existing framework. Technology constraints discovered as design and implementation continues can add new user tasks, along with new actions and objects, to the framework. The basic framework allows evaluation of these new user tasks and subtasks along with any associated actions and objects by comparing their facilitators and obstacles with the original tasks facilitators and obstacles. We also evaluate the new tasks in relationship to the original user goals and objectives or to the marketing goals and objectives.
4. THE INTERVIEW PROCESS
We use a process we call engineering ethnography (Mateas et al.,1996) to collect the user data. We need a way to collect and analysis data very quickly. Our time frame can be anywhere from a week or two to several months (several months is very rare). Our method depends on a skilled interviewing process, using a very unstructured interview. Because we are collecting a broad type of data, we may collect the data in several phases: a first pass to collect goals and objectives and a later set of interviews to collect the actual task information. Thus the first pass collects data used in product definition and the second pass is used to collect data for product design. If the scope of the project is sufficiently small, we may elect to collect both types of information in one pass.
In order to collect data about user goals and objectives, we start with a direction obtained from the marketing team. An example might be to investigate the types of communication that executives might prefer to do through a PC. Then we conduct interviews with six to eight people who fit our target market segment. Depending on how broad the target market is, we may conduct a series of vertical market interviews to determine if there is any commonality between goals and objectives for the different vertical markets and if the new technology adequately addresses the facilitators and obstacles of the different groups.
4.1. HOW THE INTERVIEW IS CONDUCTED
A team of two interviewers visits the users. One member of the team conducts the interview while the second team member structures what the user says into the data classes described in the framework section. We start by asking the user to tell us about his/her job. After we get an overview of the users job, we encourage the user to discuss in more depth the goals and objectives which are in line with our broad direction. This first part of the interview gives us a good idea as to the importance of this smaller piece within the total responsibilities of our user. We organize the goals and objectives into our data classes as the interview proceeds. At times well pause to review these goals with the user to make sure that weve captured them correctly. After all the goals have been collected, we ask the user to prioritize them with respect to success in their job.
We then query the user, in depth, about goals and objectives that are in line with the direction we want to investigate for product definition. We capture the tasks, actions, objects as well as the associated facilitators and obstacles. As we conduct the interview, the interview team needs to interact with each other. The person conducting the interview will, at times, ask the person structuring the data if there are points that need elaboration. If any are identified, the interviewer then pursues this direction until the necessary information is obtained.
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