Methods for Understanding User Requirements

Participants will learn modern techniques for familiarizing themselves with user's work situations, task patterns and needs for computer-based support. A number of these techniques and the principles on which they are based will be investigated and illustrated through real and simulated examples, involving hands-on practical exercises. Participants will learn how to manage the transition from understanding user needs to the proposal of useful applications and usable designs.

Objective:
This is a one-day course to introduce participants to specific techniques that are useful in the analysis of user needs. In addition, participants will leave armed with arguments to convince both management of the need to perform analyses of this kind in order to produce truly useful and usable products; and development engineers of the need to evaluate the real usefulness of proposed features in the user's environment.

Topics:
1. Introduction and overview of course.
2. Work contexts and situated action.
3. Naturalistic observation of work taking place with and without computer support.
4. Semi-structured ethnographic interviews.
5. Scenario-based design and storyboarding workshops.
6. Focus groups.
7. Contextual inquiry and design.

Outcomes (skills learned):

	Construct an audience analysis statement
	Apply techniques for identifying and analyzing user needs
	Apply methods to evaluate user requirements and environments
	Select between different kinds of interviewing techniques
	Construct a questionnaire for collecting audience data