S556 Systems Analysis & Design Week 12: November 18, 2008

S556-Fall Announcements Guest lecture by Mark NotessMark Notess  Next week’s readings System specification document  Sample outline available online

S556-Fall Idea for Design/Usability Testing Report The report should include three components:  Idea for design (this can be a sketch, etc.)  Usability testing report  Feedback from users/clients 2-3 pages

S556-Fall Creating a Vision Visioning:  Encourages you to think more systemically about your redesign  Is both a “grounded brainstorm” and storytelling session  A method to lead groups in future scenario building

S556-Fall Creating a Vision A drawing  shows what the new work practice (see HWW p. 215)  shows people in the role they play, the systems they use, how they communicate, and how the systems are structured See p. 226 for an example

S556-Fall Creating a Common Direction How do you choose among multiple visions? Instead of choosing, synthesize a new solution Create a better solution by  Identifying elements that work  Recombining them to preserve the best parts  Extending them to address more of the work and overcome any defects

S556-Fall Evaluation and Integration Look at each vision and first list the positive points of that vision List each positive point on a sheet and attach it to the vision List the negative points and attach them to the vision also (e.g., HWW p.224) Look across the visions and at the positive points

S556-Fall Evaluation and Integration Identify the core parts of each vision that you don’t want to lose  Think how to combine them If two visions support the work well, choose the simpler or the easier to implement Choose the ones that are supported by data

S556-Fall Making the Vision Real Code/programming Documentation & services Marketing (users’ buy-in) Testing plan Feasibility of the vision  Technical investigation  Management buy-in  Scope adjustment

S556-Fall Process & Organization Design For internal system, the vision may imply changes to business process or business organization The vision offers a new way of working The business structure may have to change to adopt the way of working, e.g., ???

S556-Fall Storyboards A vision describes what the new work practice will be The vision in storyboards will show how the system works Each frame in the storyboard captures a single scene, I.e., an interaction between two people, a person and the system, a person and an artifact, or a system step (see HWW, p. 238, ) Build storyboards in pairs

S556-Fall Storyboard Example

S556-Fall Storyboard Example

S556-Fall Redesigning Work Understand the structure of work as it exists & issues implicit in the work Become knowledgeable about possibilities for redesign Vision a new world Work out specifics in storyboards

S556-Fall Next Step The vision & storyboards A system design

Usability

S556-Fall The Difficulty of Communicating a Design Presenting a demo  Hard to envision new work practice in the presence of the new system Requirements specifications  Text-oriented Work models  Hard for customers to understand the work models ???

S556-Fall The Difficulty of Communicating a Design Customers need not just an artifact but an event, a process that will allow them to live out their own work in the new system and articulate the issues they identify (c.f., participatory design)

S556-Fall Including Customers in the Design Process We want to co-design the system with the users 3 obstacles:  No one articulates their own work practices as an ordinary thing  Customers have not spent time studying all the users of the proposed system  Customers aren’t technologists

S556-Fall Including Customers in the Design Process The challenge for design is to include users in the process to iterate, refine, and extend the initial design concept The starting point is an initial design concept  an initial prototype

S556-Fall Using Paper Prototypes to Drive Design Prototypes:  are not a demo  are prop in a contextual interview  enable the user to play out the experience of living with the new system  act as a language for communicating between user and designer

S556-Fall Using Paper Prototypes to Drive Design To look at structure, the first prototypes are paper Paper prototypes are easy to change Working through a prototype of a new system and discussing the interaction of the system with the work reveals issues that would otherwise remain invisible

S556-Fall Prototyping as a Communication Tool The prototyping process not only brings the users into the design process, but it changes the design process itself Paper prototyping reduces the cost of getting data so low that the team can demand on having it

S556-Fall Discussion What Is Usability Testing? To get feedback from users about the usability of a product. To get feedback from users about the usability of a product. What kind of usability testing experience do you have?

S556-Fall Real Users Testers must be people who currently use or will use the product in the future “If the participants in the usability test do not represent the real users, you are not seeing what will happen when the product gets to the real users”

S556-Fall Doing Real Tasks “The tasks that you have users do in the test must be ones that they will do with the product on their jobs or in their homes” “The tasks that you include in a test should relate to your goals and concerns and have a high probability of uncovering a usability problem”

S556-Fall Observing & Recording Test one person at a time You record both performance and comments  Measure: learning time, time to perform, errors, ease of remembering and amount remembered, subjective measures Ask the participant for opinions about the product Usability testing is NOT focus groups, surveys, or beta testing

S556-Fall Guideline for Usability Testing Develop a prototype of a system List several tasks that users should be able to accomplish with the system Make a list of potential usability testers Plan for data collection Schedule the test Listen and observe  think-aloud, video-taping Usability professionals’ association:

S556-Fall Feedback Session (HWW Ch 13 & 14) Do not have too much attachment to your ideas  Open to your users/clients’ ideas The goal is co-design  Provide ownership to the users Develop the ideas that would work

S556-Fall Cost-Benefit Analysis 1. Identify the problem clearly 2. Explicitly define the set of objectives to be accomplished 3. Generate alternatives that satisfy the stated objectives 4. Identify clearly the constraints (e.g., technological, political, legal, social, financial

S556-Fall Cost-Benefit Analysis 5. Determine and list the benefits and costs associated with each alternative 6. Calculate the benefit/cost ratios and other indicators (e.g., present value, payback period) for each alternatives 7. Prepare the final report, comparing the results

S556-Fall Cost-Benefit Analysis TitleBudget (Million) Domestic BO (M) World BO (M) The Lord of the Rings: The fellowship of the ring $109$313.8$860.7 The Two Towers $94$340.5$920.5 The Return of the king $94$377$

S556-Fall Shortcomings of the B/C Methodology Doesn’t identify the scale of the projects (ratio only) Do not assess unquantifiable items in financial terms Introduce biases in the approaches to a problem

S556-Fall Analyzing Forces Force Field Analysis:  Is a method used to get a whole view of all the forces for or against a plan, so that  Helps decision making which takes into account all interests.  Is a specialized method of weighing pros and cons  Where a plan has been decided on, FFA allows you to look at all the forces for or against the plan. It helps you to plan or reduce the impact of the opposing forces, and strengthen and reinforce the supporting forces.

S556-Fall Analyzing Forces List all forces for change in one column, and all forces against change in another column. Assign a score to each force, from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong). Draw a diagram showing the forces for and against, and the size of the forces

S556-Fall Analyzing Forces

S556-Fall Adjusting Forces By training staff (increase cost by 1) fear of technology could be eliminated (reduce fear by 2) It would be useful to show staff that change is necessary for business survival (new force in favor, +2) Staff could be shown that the new machines will introduce variety and interest to their jobs (new force, +1) Wages could be raised to reflect new productivity (cost +1, loss of overtime -2) Slightly different machines with filters to eliminate pollution could be installed (environmental impact - 1) These changes swing the balance from 11:10 (against the plan), to 8:13 (in favor of the plan)

S556-Fall Group Activity You are a member of a UITS usability team. UITS is ranching a new Onestart. Before implementing, President McRobbie asked your team to conduct a usability testing of Onestart’s student interface. Your team needs to submit a plan for the usability testing.