Contextual Design

Purpose for us An example A term often used, with varying levels of precision

Purpose of CI Translate ethnographic methods to more procedural methodology –A group can learn together –Structures group processes –Takes less time

Focus on intentions Intentions: purposes for accomplishing a task, apart from means explicit or implicit often a cascade of intentions –highest level change little over time –collection of lower-level = strategy for attaining higher level

Contextual Design Steps Contextual inquiry – field interviews and observations at work site Work Modeling – captures the work of indidividuals and organizations Consolidation brings data from individual customer interviews together so the team can see common pattern and structure without losing individual variation. Work redesign – to improve work by using technology to help people do their work –Storyboards: how people will work with the new system User environment design -- the ‘floor plan’ of the new system Prototyping Prioritization and object-oriented design

Work Modeling captures the work of individuals and organizations –flow model: communication and coordination, –cultural model: culture and policy, –sequence model detailed steps to accomplish a task, –physical model: physical environment as it supports the work, –artifact model: how artifacts are used and structured in work.

Consolidation brings data from individual customer interviews together so the team can see common pattern and structure without losing individual variation. The affinity diagram brings together issues and insights across all customers into a wall-sized, hierarchical diagram to reveal the scope of the problem. Consolidated work models bring together each different type of work model separately, to reveal common strategies and intents while retaining and organizing individual differences.