In his 1992 article, Marc Rettig, defines the methods we use for understanding requirements as ‘Hat Racks for Understanding’ [Rettig, 1992] - “I’ll sit down to work on an assignment, start sketching screens or composing an outline, then suddenly stop and say to myself, these are all ‘hows!’ What is the ‘what?’ What am I really trying to deliver? There is an implicit ‘what’ underlying most software projects ‘understanding.’ The users of your software are trying to learn something from the, data they are seeing. They need to understand the process of working with the software, and how it relates to the rest of their job. They need to understand how to use the software itself. When understanding is made an explicit part of the requirements, the ‘how’ that is, the design will change. How can we help our users gain understanding? ... As the collection grows, a few common themes are emerging. Some of the themes are often discussed in computing circles, such as user centred design, iterative development, user testing, and concern for human factors. These are all ‘big ideas.’ But what I really need for my day-to-day work are a few easy-to-handle tools – ways, of thinking that will help me to do well at all those small decisions whose cumulative effect is so large... When writers and designers want to explain something, they use visual ‘hat racks’ (maps, diagrams, charts, lists, time lines) that help us understand how our world is organised. Information hats may be hung on these racks to reveal patterns, connections, and relationships. As the scientific visualisation community has found out, one of the exciting things about computers is the way they let you dynamically change the racks on which your information hats are hanging – you can see the same information in many different ways... Although there seems to be an infinity of ways to organise information, [Wurman] notes there are really only five general ways: time; location; continuum or magnitude; and category.”

1. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
The User Experience
from 30,000ft
#comp33512
Week 03 – Lectures 05/06
Simon Harper
University of Manchester
Semester 2 – 2013/14
last update: February 11, 2014
The User Experience from 30,000ft
1 / 31

2. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
UX Pop Quiz
1. What is the key focus of HCI?
2. What is the purpose of the UX specialist?
3. What is User Experience and how is it applied?
4. If there are no 100% correct answers in UX, how do we
decide what is right and what is wrong?
5. What are the five key properties of UX?
6. Pick one input modality and describe it.
7. What are the four main sensory channels, and briefly explain
them?
The User Experience from 30,000ft
UX Pop Quiz
2 / 31

3. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Hat Racks for Understanding
Marc Rettig
“I’ll sit down to work on an assignment, start sketching screens or
composing an outline, then suddenly stop and say to myself,
“these are all ‘hows!’ What is the ‘what?’ What am I really
trying to deliver?” There is an implicit ‘what’ underlying most
software projects understanding.”
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Hat Racks for Understanding
3 / 31

4. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Awareness, Understanding, Action
Figure: ‘Awareness, Understanding, Action’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Hat Racks for Understanding
4 / 31

5. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Discover, Design, Use
Figure: ‘Discover, Design, Use’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Hat Racks for Understanding
5 / 31

6. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
User Centred Design / Participatory Design
The major difference between the traditional engineering
methods, and UCD is that the users participate far more in UCD,
and that the cycles are not so ridged. Further, requirements
engineering is often more concerned that all functionality is
present and that this functionality works correctly – important, to
be sure. However, UCD is interested in making sure the
functionality elicited in the requirements capture is the ‘right’
functionality for the users – it is ‘What People Want!’.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
6 / 31

7. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Who...
‘Actor’ refers to a specific instance of the users such as a
customer, manager, or sales clerk;
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
7 / 31

8. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Who...
‘Actor’ refers to a specific instance of the users such as a
customer, manager, or sales clerk;
‘Stakeholder’ is similar to an actor but in this case they are less
involved;
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
7 / 31

9. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Who...
‘Actor’ refers to a specific instance of the users such as a
customer, manager, or sales clerk;
‘Stakeholder’ is similar to an actor but in this case they are less
involved;
‘Role’ describes the persona the user will be taking, such
as a purchaser or a seller; and
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
7 / 31

10. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Who...
‘Actor’ refers to a specific instance of the users such as a
customer, manager, or sales clerk;
‘Stakeholder’ is similar to an actor but in this case they are less
involved;
‘Role’ describes the persona the user will be taking, such
as a purchaser or a seller; and
‘Proxy’ is used to describe a person who is not a specific
user but is playing that role, in this case a proxy
sales clerk.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
7 / 31

11. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
What?
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
8 / 31

12. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
What..
‘Current System?’ What does the current system (paper
based or not) do;
You will also need to have...
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
9 / 31

13. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
What..
‘Current System?’ What does the current system (paper
based or not) do;
‘Current Documentation?’ What does it produce and what terms
/ jargon is used;
You will also need to have...
...a plan for design, agile participatory development, and handling
feature creep.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
9 / 31

14. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
What..
‘Current System?’ What does the current system (paper
based or not) do;
‘Current Documentation?’ What does it produce and what terms
/ jargon is used;
‘Improvements?’ What improvements could be made
(where does it fail)?;
You will also need to have...
...a plan for design, agile participatory development, and handling
feature creep.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
9 / 31

15. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
What..
‘Current System?’ What does the current system (paper
based or not) do;
‘Current Documentation?’ What does it produce and what terms
/ jargon is used;
‘Improvements?’ What improvements could be made
(where does it fail)?;
‘Newness?’ What changes / additions /
subtractions are required; and
You will also need to have...
...a plan for design, agile participatory development, and handling
feature creep.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
9 / 31

16. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
What..
‘Current System?’ What does the current system (paper
based or not) do;
‘Current Documentation?’ What does it produce and what terms
/ jargon is used;
‘Improvements?’ What improvements could be made
(where does it fail)?;
‘Newness?’ What changes / additions /
subtractions are required; and
‘Importance?’ What is important / what needs
speed / what is less often used / what
is the ‘schedule’ ?.
You will also need to have...
...a plan for design, agile participatory development, and handling
feature creep.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
9 / 31

17. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
How?
Figure: ‘Post-Its’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
10 / 31

18. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
How...
‘Observation’ (Observe) Look at what people do, and note it
down;
THIS IS NOT
Time and Motion!
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
11 / 31

19. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
How...
‘Observation’ (Observe) Look at what people do, and note it
down;
‘Analysis’ (Analyse) Analysis the ‘stuff’ they produce; and
THIS IS NOT
Time and Motion!
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
11 / 31

20. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
How...
‘Observation’ (Observe) Look at what people do, and note it
down;
‘Analysis’ (Analyse) Analysis the ‘stuff’ they produce; and
‘Discussion’ (Discuss) Try to find out what these observations
and analysis means;
THIS IS NOT
Time and Motion!
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
11 / 31

21. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Qualitative – ‘Qual’
Figure: ‘NVivo Tool’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
12 / 31

22. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Got Six Months?
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
13 / 31

23. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Got Six Months?
Participant Observation
‘Learn by Doing’;
Longterm / Interpretive;
Embedded / Imbedded
(Invisible & Embedded);
Copious Notes and
Analysis (Ethnography);
Conversations with a
Purpose;
Deep but Narrow
Understanding; using
Strategies to NOT
Standout.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
13 / 31

24. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Got Six Months?
Participant Observation
Task Analysis
‘Learn by Doing’;
‘Learn by Observing’;
Longterm / Interpretive;
Can be Short Term;
Embedded / Imbedded
(Invisible & Embedded);
Invisible / Remote, but
can be
Copious Notes and
Analysis (Ethnography);
Close & Discursive;
Notes with ‘Formal’
Models;
Conversations with a
Purpose;
Mid-Deep / Mid-Scope;
using
Deep but Narrow
Understanding; using
Less Interpretation.
Strategies to NOT
Standout.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
13 / 31

25. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Where Could these be Applied?
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
14 / 31

26. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Got Six Weeks?
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
15 / 31

27. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Got Six Weeks?
Focus Groups / Interviews
‘Learn By Asking’;
Fast with many
Participants;
‘People Lie’;
Group think (in F/G)
maybe Wrong;
Wide but Shallow;
Semi-Structured
Questions; and
Requires Even Less
Interpretation.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
15 / 31

28. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Got Six Weeks?
Focus Groups / Interviews
Social / Shorten 6 Months
‘Learn By Asking’;
Social;
Fast with many
Participants;
Just Talking;
Cannot get the full
picture;
‘People Lie’;
Group think (in F/G)
maybe Wrong;
Relaxed - Informal; or
Wide but Shallow;
Observation on a smaller
scale; but
Semi-Structured
Questions; and
More Constrained - More
Shallow, than PObs.
Requires Even Less
Interpretation.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
15 / 31

29. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Lack of Users?
Archive
Describe an organisation by the things it produces;
The Letters and Trails it Creates;
Important Documentation;
Logs and Logbooks; in short
The artefacts of the systems already created by the users.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
16 / 31

30. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Let’s Have a Break!
Back in 10 Minutes!
Come see me now if you have
Questions Regarding this Lecture!
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
17 / 31

31. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
How Do I Convey The Information?
–User Stories
With Notes:
Figure: ‘Story Card with Notes’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
18 / 31

32. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
How Do I Convey The Information?
–User Stories
Too Much:
Figure: ‘Too Much’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
18 / 31

33. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
How Do I Convey The Information?
–User Stories
Revised:
Figure: ‘Revised’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
18 / 31

34. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–Use Cases
Figure: ‘h’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
19 / 31

35. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–Scenario
Mary has a learning disability. She finds looking at images on a
webpage very distracting. Mary would like to see all images
rendered in the following order. First, for images with long
descriptions have the long description rendered in place of the
image. If the long description does not exit, she wants the ‘alt
text’ to be rendered. If neither is available, Mary wants the file
name rendered. Added functionality would allow Mary to right
click (context menu) on an image to list and select the rendering
of the available alternatives (thumbnail, original size, full screen,
low resolution, high resolution, alt text, long description, file
name).
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
20 / 31

36. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–Persona
Eva is 75 she was diagnosed with lung cancer 8 months ago, she
has had chemotherapy to manage her symptoms and to hopefully
extend her life, she found the treatment very difficult and had lots
of side effects. Her husband died 5 years ago from bowel cancer
and she lives alone in social housing. Her daughter lives nearby
and she sees her grandchildren often. She is an ex-smoker and
quit 20 years ago. She attends church on a Sunday when she can
but is otherwise limited in her social contact. She does not own a
computer and feels she is too old to learn about technology. Her
granddaughter sometimes brings her articles from the internet
about new treatments but she finds them confusing. She
telephones her cancer nurse is she has any problems but mainly
gets information when she has her regular follow-up appointments.
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
21 / 31

37. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–Persona on Steroids
Figure: ‘Persona on Steroids’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
22 / 31

38. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–Wireframe
Figure: ‘Wireframes’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
23 / 31

39. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–Mock-up / Wizard of Oz
Figure: ‘iPhone Application’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
24 / 31

40. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–Storyboard
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
25 / 31

41. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–Flow Charts
Figure: ‘Flow Chart’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
26 / 31

42. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–State Transition / State Machine
...thanks Scott W. Ambler http: // www. agilemodeling. com/ artifacts/ stateMachineDiagram. htm
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
27 / 31

43. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
–UML
Figure: ‘h’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Stakeholders
28 / 31

44. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Pop Quiz for next week...
1. How would you go about getting the ‘what’ ?
2. Why are Post-its so important?
3. What are the differences between informal and semi-formal
methods?
4. Pick an informal methodology and describe it?
5. What are the two main danger points to remember when
undertaking UXD?
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Wrapping Up
29 / 31

45. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
To Do for next week...
1. Pop Quiz. Discuss Next Week; and
2. Read your notes up to the end of ‘Hat Racks for
Understanding’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Wrapping Up
30 / 31

46. UX Pop Quiz
Hat Racks for Understanding
Stakeholders
Wrapping Up
Any Questions?
Simon Harper 2.44 Kilburn Building
0161 275 0599 (OR x50599)
simon.harper@manchester.ac.uk
Office Hours: Friday 14:00–18:00
Figure: ‘Baldy!’
The User Experience from 30,000ft
Wrapping Up
31 / 31