DDQ MON 2021-09-27

15. User-Centered Requirements Analysis

15.1. Agenda

  1. General Announcements

  2. Discussion & Activity

Table 15.1 Current Assignments for Everyone

Category

Assignment

Day

Date

Term Project

Milestone 2: Definition & Related Work

FRI

2021-10-08

15.2. Activity

15.2.1. Introduction

In an interaction design process, requirements analysis is a phase that collects and validates all of the necessary requirements of various stakeholders for an interactive system or device, and yields the requirements specification that will be used and possibly iterated on throughout the remainder of the design process.

The exact activities that take place during a requirements analyis may differ based on development methodolgy, business reporting guidelines, or even legal requirements; however, the following list captures a representative subset of activities that designers should be familiar with:

  1. Identify stakeholders.

  2. Elicit (or gather) requirements from stakeholders.

  3. Document requirements using user stories, use cases, etc.

  4. Analyze requirements for relevance, clarity, consistency, completeness, uniqueness, etc.

It is not uncommon to categorize requirements based on their concerns, impacts, and other factors related to the scope of a project. Here are some different requirement categories (or types) that are often used in software engineering and interaction design:

functional requirements

Requirements that define the specific behavior that the system should support.

Example: Mobile App

The app shall be able to send messages at all times, even when out of the service area (in which case they are saved for later sending).

non-functional requirements

Requirements that specify overall criteria governing the operation of the interactive system without being tied to a specific action or behavior (e.g., hardware, software, system performance, reliability, etc.). .. admonition:: Example: Mobile App

Messages should send within 2 seconds, returning the user to the new message window (continuing in the background if necessary).

user experience requirements

Any user-centered requirement directly related to the user experience or user interface of the interactive system. (e.g., navigation, input, colors, etc.).

Example: User Experience Requirement: Mobile App

The mobile app shall support customization such as color schemes, skins, and sounds.

Requirements can be expressed in different ways. Here are some examples:

user story

An agile requirement, stated as a sentence or two without jargon. A user story is often expressed from the user’s point of view, and describes a unit of desired functionality.

User Story Template

As a type of user, I want some goal so that some reason.

Example: User Experience Requirement: Mobile App

As a regular user, I want to customize the notification sounds based on type so that I can differentiate or group different notification types.

use case

A formalized scenario that captures an operation between an actor and the system in a step-by-step manner [TB:1].

When eliciting UX requirements, it’s important to advocate for the users. This requires insight into what what users do, think, and feel when performing relevant tasks. Ideally, this information is ascertained from studies involving a representative sample of users, feedback provided by users, or both. In addition to utilizing models like the seven stages of action, it’s also common to explicitly consider the following:

touchpoint

A point of contact or interaction, especially between a business and its customers or consumers.

pain point

A persistent or recurring problem (as with a product or service) that frequently inconveniences or annoys customers (users).

15.2.2. Class Activity

An empathy map is a visualization that captures knowledge about a user’s behaviors and attitudes, and is a useful tool when exploring paint points, touchpoints, and user experience requirements.

  1. Use the link provided by your instructor to access the Mural canvas for this activity.

    • Click here to access the Mural.

  2. Once you have access to the canvas, click on the Outline button in the upper right-hand corner, then click on each step to see some instructions related to a particular part of the canvas.

After the activity, a copy of the canvas will be posted below for students to review.

15.2.3. After Class

  1. Before next class, individually respond to the following prompt by replying to their followup discussion in Piazza @52.

    Prompt

    Pick an app that you have used and pretend to be the developers of that app.

    1. Provide the name of the app, and, If possible, provide a screenshot.

    2. List two user experience requirements of the app as user stories. Be sure to phrase your user stories using the template provided earlier.

    Comments

    If you choose to comment on the followups created by others, please keep the comments polite and constructive. In addition to whatever else you want to write, please comment on: one aspect of a group’s post that you like; one aspect that you think needs improvement (e.g., you find that something is unclear or you don’t understand a justification); and one actual or potential pain point related to their app. If you can over a different interpretation than what a group described in their post, then please include that too. As always, be sure to provide a brief justification for each.

  2. Continue reading the Design module, and make sure you’re aware of current assignments and their due dates.