Contextual Design – The Basics and the Contextual Interview
based on: Rapid Contextual Design by Holtzblatt, Wendell, & Wood Contextual Design by Beyer & Hotlzblatt
Corritore, Fall 2006ITM 734
Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc 2 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, Inc 3 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, Inc 4 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, Inc 5 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, Inc 6 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, Inc 7 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, Inc 8 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, Inc 9 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, Inc 10 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, Inc 11 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, Inc 12 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, Inc 13 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, Inc 14 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, Inc 15 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, Inc 16 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, Inc 17 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, Inc 18 of 9
Parts of the Contextual Interview
3. Contextual Interview – Audiotaping Copious notes Be nosy, follow around
Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc 19 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, Inc 20 of 9
Our project – start on this
Lightning fast+ - Steps (pg. 39)
Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc 21 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, Inc 22 of 9
Our project
Who does the work? Work group Job roles Job titles
Context (see pg 69)
Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc 23 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, Inc 24 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, Inc 25 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, email Interview Info
Subject No., interview date, interview time, interview location, directions to interview site
Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Inc 26 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, Inc 27 of 9
ScheduleDate(s) Activity
Sept. 26 – Oct. 8 Ten contextual field interviews
Oct. 2 and Oct. 9 Two Interpretation Sessions
Oct. 23 and Oct. 30 Work Modeling, Affinity NotesConsolidation, Affinity DiagramsPersonas Walking the Affinity and Consolidated Sequences
Nov. 6 Visioning & Storyboarding
Nov. 13 Prototypes and Prototype Testing
Nov. 20 Final Presentation