Processes of Design Second lecture: Defining the Problem 3 October 2003 William Newman

Defining the Problem: Overview Issues: What aspects do we need to define? What if we dont know all of them? Specifying the users needs. Goal: ensure we know how to specify the design problem at the outset.

What do we need to define in order to start designing? a form of solution; the intended users; a context in which the system will be used; an activity, performed by the users, that the system will support; a target performance for the activity.

How to state all of these in one sentence Design a to enable in to in/with Example: Design a ticket machine to enable travellers at a railway station to purchase a ticket in less time than at present.

Arriving at the problem statement We discover the components by degrees Suppose we find we dont know… The user? The context? The activity? The target performance? These questions force us to think.

The Form of Solution Suppose we dont know what it is? Our initial problem statement reads: students in libraries need to copy text from paper to word processor faster than typing This situation forces us to innovate! Reading assignment: Newman & Lamming, Chapter 2.

Whats coming next? 1.(today) 2.Fri 10 Oct: User interface design 3.Fri 24 Oct: Testing and evaluation 4.Then: Ethnography and measurement 5.And: Requirements 6.And: Research methods 7.With: Exercises and paper reading along the way.