William H. Bowers – Participatory Methods Torres 6

William H. Bowers – Topics User Participation Helps Understand User Participation Helps Understand User Participation Techniques User Participation Techniques Types of User Participation Types of User Participation User Expertise User Expertise

William H. Bowers – Topics User Participation During Design User Participation During Design User Participation During Construction User Participation During Construction User Participation During Evaluation User Participation During Evaluation User Participation During Post Deployment User Participation During Post Deployment Rules of Thumb Rules of Thumb

William H. Bowers – User Participation Helps Understand Who the users are Who the users are What the user is trying to accomplish What the user is trying to accomplish User’s task likes and needs User’s task likes and needs User’s UI likes and dislikes User’s UI likes and dislikes Tradeoff priorities Tradeoff priorities

William H. Bowers – User Participation Techniques Planning Planning –Users aren’t technical experts –May know who should be involved –Know skills and concerns of other users –Involve from day one –Get user’s managers support

William H. Bowers – User Participation Techniques Requirements Phase Requirements Phase –Get real users involved and active –Keep them participating throughout the project –Extend participation beyond QA

William H. Bowers – Types of User Participation –Observation –Surveys –Presentations –Demos –Analysis –Design –Prototyping –Walkthroughs –Workshops –Usability testing

William H. Bowers – User Expertise User profiles User profiles Business context Business context Frequency of tasks Frequency of tasks Task interactions Task interactions Features Features GUI layout and usage GUI layout and usage

William H. Bowers – User Participation During Design Design & prototype Design & prototype Selecting alternatives Selecting alternatives Review and iteration Review and iteration Task analysis Task analysis

William H. Bowers – User Participation During Construction Display and graphics readability Display and graphics readability Search result return set sizes Search result return set sizes Display response time Display response time Odd print formats Odd print formats

William H. Bowers – User Participation During Evaluation Complementary evaluation Complementary evaluation System testing System testing Pilot programs Pilot programs

William H. Bowers – User Participation During Post Deployment Postdeployment surveys Postdeployment surveys Product feedback Product feedback Usability Usability Bugs Bugs Phase 2 requests Phase 2 requests

William H. Bowers – Rules of Thumb Don’t ask open ended or vague questions Don’t ask open ended or vague questions Don’t underestimate user involvement Don’t underestimate user involvement Be prepared for meetings Be prepared for meetings Be concrete, not abstract Be concrete, not abstract Keep a broad focus Keep a broad focus Don’t over commit Don’t over commit

William H. Bowers – Questions & Discussion