Contextual Design – The Basics and the Contextual Interview based on: Rapid Contextual Design by Holtzblatt, Wendell, & Wood Contextual Design by Beyer & Hotlzblatt Corritore, Fall 2006 ITM 734

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc2 of 9 Contextual Design Customer-centered process that supports finding out how people work so that the optimal redesign of work practice can be discovered. Design: Intentional structuring of a system so that the parts work together coherently to support the work of people.

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc3 of 9 Caveats Marketing data doesn’t provide design data Just justification – understanding what people will buy Design – want to know how people work and what they need to do this better. Eg. Installation is the #1 problem (marketing) What is wrong with the installation? (design)

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc4 of 9 Caveats Intuition Designers have it – but they are not typical users (nor are developers) They aren’t the ones doing the work

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc5 of 9 Caveats Customer will focus on a narrow fix Eg. What tweak to the system will overcome the problem I am having? (customer) What new concepts or features would make the system radically more appropriate to the job at hand? (designer)

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc6 of 9 Caveats In CI avoid Interviewer-interviewee model Expert-novice (you the expert) Guest-host You are to be nosy, close, follow around, ask questions (ie. What was that phone call about?)

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc7 of 9 The challenge Customer way of working is largely subconscious So can’t describe easily if at all Tend to describe it at high, summative level Design needs low-level details

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc8 of 9 Contextual Inquiry Bottom line: go where the customer works, observe the customer as he/she works, and talk to the customer about the work. As customer works, artifacts and work processes jogs memory, illustrates mis- conceptions of designer, etc. They can talk about how they work as they do it

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc9 of 9 Models for Successful Contextual Inquiries Apprentice-Master Model Focus on the details – ‘why are you doing that’ or ‘I’m doing this because …’ Learn the basic strategies involved as see them over and over Artifacts trigger conversation about how, when used Forms, papers, notes, etc.

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc10 of 9 Apprentice-Master Model Incomplete Don’t want to learn how to do it – want to learn how it is done in order to improve and/or support it Four principles to guide extension Context Partnership Interpretation Focus

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc11 of 9 Add Context Go to the customer’s workplace and see the work as it happens Ongoing experience, not summative (eg. What was that movie about?) Concrete rather than abstract data (lump together like activites – lose the details) Exception – Retrospective Account Retelling a past event If must, listen for what they are leaving out and fill in the holes

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc12 of 9 Add Partnership Make you and customer collaborators in understanding his/her work – mutual relationship of shared inquiry and discovery of customer’s work Model: customer is working on something, interviewer watching the details – looking for pattern and structure – thinking about reasons behind customer’s actions. when something doesn’t fit model of interviewer, interrupt to talk about it – discuss with customer customer returns to working Attempting to make implicit things explicit If think of design solutions, go ahead and run them by customer – great opportunity can’t get them out of your head anyways! If say ‘huh’ or ‘what?’ or ‘ummm – could be’ you are on the wrong track

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc13 of 9 Add Interpretation Assign meaning to the facts Facts alone don’t direct design – interpretation does Interpretation is the data you want to direct the design Eg. Accounting pkg, user kept a sheet of accounts and account numbers next to her screen. Perhaps …. acct numbers necessary but hard to remember? (way to cross- reference numbers and names in system) numbers unnecessary but a hold-over from paper systems and just need a way to refer to an acct uniquely (get rid of numbers, use unique names) Compatibility with paper systems needed, but referring to accts by name easier (keep numbers but use names)

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc14 of 9 Add Interpretation Process From the fact (the observable event) Make a hypothesis (initial interpretation about what the fact means or the intent behind the fact) This hypothesis has implications for the design So leads to a design idea See previous example Can only validate interpretation by sharing with customer

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc15 of 9 Add Focus Defines the point of view that interviewer takes while studying work Specific kind of work that is relevant to the design Use to keep conversation on track Gives team a uniform starting point Evolves over time Challenge your Assumptions (flags to indicate deviations) Surprises and contradictions – assume that everything they are doing is for a reason and is not unique Nods – dangerous – rather, assume that everything they do is new, something you have not seen before. Don’t understand – have customer explain

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc16 of 9 Parts of the Contextual Interview 1. Conventional Interview Introduce self and project Confidentiality Permission to audiotape Customer and her work is primary Depend on her to teach you the work and correct your mis-understandings Get overview of work to be done that day 15 min.

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc17 of 9 Parts of the Contextual Interview 2. Transition – State new rules for the contextual interview – customer will do his/her work while you watch, you will interrupt when you see something interesting or that you don’t understand If it’s a bad time to interrupt, customer can say 30 seconds

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc18 of 9 Parts of the Contextual Interview 3. Contextual Interview – Audiotaping Copious notes Be nosy, follow around

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc19 of 9 Parts of the Contextual Interview 4. Wrap-up Skim over your notes and summarize what you have learned (not verbatim) Last chance for customer to correct you

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc20 of 9 Our project – start on this Lightning fast+ - Steps (pg. 39)

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc21 of 9 Our project Setting Project Focus What is the work we expect to support? What is the work associated with the problem? How does this work fit into the customer’s whole work life? How is this work done now? Other products Paper and pencil – real world What activities are associated with the work? Given the work problem, what tasks do people do to complete the work? Start with your entering assumptions about the task Is this work like anything else? (metaphor) – What are the fundamental new characteristics introduced by the new technology? Boil down into key characteristics of the work – put on interview form Write on every page of interview notepad (use spirals)

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc22 of 9 Our project Who does the work? Work group Job roles Job titles Context (see pg 69)

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc23 of 9 Our project Who to interview? (N = 16 – 20; 3-4 per work role) Who is involved in making the work happen? Who are the informal helpers? Who provides the information needed to do the work? Who uses the results of the work? Maximize differences Recruiting – Sample recruiting script pg. 74 Thank you to interviewees

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc24 of 9 Our project Problem analysis: Investigate the market space What are market expectations? Are they already using another product? Typical complaints? Requests? What are best practices? Competition? What are known issues, design ideas (work backwards on these), stakeholder concerns Communication – who, when, what Invite to interpretation sessions Progress reports

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc25 of 9 Plan the Contextual Interview – start on this Conventional Interview – see pg. 76 Contact Info name, title, company name, division/unit/department, address, phone, Interview Info Subject No., interview date, interview time, interview location, directions to interview site

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc26 of 9 Set up interviews Data Collection Sept. 26 (Tues) – Oct 8 Interpretation Oct. 2 and Oct. 9 Spring break Oct. 14 – 22

Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc27 of 9 Schedule Date(s)Activity Sept. 26 – Oct. 8Ten contextual field interviews Oct. 2 and Oct. 9Two Interpretation Sessions Oct. 23 and Oct. 30Work Modeling, Affinity Notes Consolidation, Affinity Diagrams Personas Walking the Affinity and Consolidated Sequences Nov. 6Visioning & Storyboarding Nov. 13Prototypes and Prototype Testing Nov. 20Final Presentation