Hello Fluid Folk! At the end of this message are a few items of interest. Please bear with me if you've seen some of them before. All are timely for Kuali Student:
* Discussion of Use Cases vs. User Scenarios * Adaptive Path's new UCD book: "Subject To Change" * Swimlane showing how UC and UX view the same project Happy perusing. --Rachel ======================================== _________________________________________________ Swimlane showing how UC and UX view the same project Yvonne Shek of nForm (Edmonton, Canada) created a diagram that combines UX, use case, business and storyboard views of a project. She won the people's choice award for deliverables at ASIS&T's IA Summit: http://nform.ca/blog/images/Swimlane_example2.gif _________________________________________________ Adaptive Path's new UCD book JJ Garett's group, Adaptive Path, has a new book out. The title is "Subject To Change": http://www.amazon.com/Subject-Change-Creating-Products-Uncertain/dp/0596516835/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210988456&sr=8-1 I have not yet read this book, but it is coming soon to Berkeley's UX library. I did take a workshop with Adaptive Path earlier this year. While less structured than Cooper, the vitality of Adaptive Path's approach and triangulation with Cooper is helpful for me. I have been consistently impressed by the way Allison encourages groups to take small steps into the UX pond. In Kuali Student I have been soft- pedaling the message that some UX is better than none, because UX is still largely confused with UI. But Adaptive Path is all about doing UX any way you can, and I mostly agree. I'd love to hear what others have to say about structured vs. "guerilla" UCD. _________________________________________________ Discussion of Use Cases vs. User Scenarios from Information Architecture Institute community discussion list http://iainstitute.org/ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: May 16, 2008 7:36:59 AM PDT Your distinction is great! Use Cases don't take personal environmental & habitual context into account. They're necessary, of course, as an intermediate step between the context-rich story the scenario provides, and the cold logic of the developer's code & "business rules" of the application. But the people designing the UI, labeling the controls, links and fields, developing the aesthetics and writing content need to know more than just the mechanics of what the user will be doing. Also, technically, use cases are descriptions of *system* behavior, not user behavior. It doesn't focus on a particular user or kind of user -- it focuses on what situations "of use" the system may encounter and how it should respond. That's far from the same thing as a scenario. In fact, the scenario helps drive the use-cases ... it explains that the user is, for example, typically working on a site or application in a busy office with (as you mention) various distractions, and may have to save progress and return -- then the use cases would need to reflect that. Ideally, then, the persona/scenario work comes before requirements work and use-case writing ... but I realize that ideal is kind of rare (hence the need to keep explaining to colleagues why the persona/ scenario work is necessary!) --- Andrew Hinton From: Cori Stankowicz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: May 16, 2008 6:55:07 AM PDT In my experience, the use cases detail every possible option or action on the site - each result and each variable. User scenarios are meant to show how a typical user (or persona) would use a specific option or action. The way I think of it is that use cases take the user out of picture; they are simply to document the system responses to any single action. Scenarios can also document what the user may do before and/or after they interact with your product - something that the use cases simply are not meant to do. Hope this helps. -Cori Cori R. Stankowicz User Experience Architect Tribal/DDB Chicago From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: May 16, 2008 2:51:31 AM PDT Lately, I have been assigned on a project that includes 2 Bunisess Analysts (BA) also for requirement gatherings phase. However, this is the first time that they are working with an IA. BAs are developing Use Cases and I will be developing User Needs Matrix, Persona, and Scenarios. The problem I am facing is classical and I am sure you guys must have discussed it here sometime, but I am a new member. The product manager is not understanding the difference between Use Cases and User Scenarios. I explained him but he still does not understand the value of User Scenarios Vs Use Cases. I am supposed to present the difference to the management very soon and seek your help. I am looking at some great and convincing examples to build up the case. I would like to hear your definitions and also what is the best way to collaborate with Business Analysts on a project? Please send me pointers to papers, articles, books, etc. My crisp definition is: Use Case: A bulleted user - system talk which follows action-response pattern. It does not talk about the user's demographic profile, technical awareness, and environment or context. User Scenario: A rich narrative of user's interaction with the product that also incoportates his persona and environment. E.g. He gets distracted a lot because he sits at the front desk. Thanks, Praveen Verma Information Architect ======================================== __________________________ Rachel Hollowgrass Senior User Interaction Designer Educational Technology Services University of California at Berkeley UX Lead for Kuali Student project [EMAIL PROTECTED] (510) 673-9932 __________________________ _______________________________________________ fluid-work mailing list [email protected] http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work
