User and Task Analysis for Interface Design,9780471178316

User and Task Analysis for Interface Design

by ;
Edition: 1st
ISBN13: 9780471178316
ISBN10: 0471178314
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 1998-02-23
Publisher(s): Wiley
List Price: $101.33

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Summary

"Hackos and Redish wisely offer us the three things we most need about user and task analysis: practical advice, practical advice, and practical advice." -Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland "This book is well written, thorough, and loaded with techniques, examples, and resources that bring analysis to everyone." -Marcia L. Conner, Director of Usability & Learnability PeopleSoft, Inc. User and Task Analysis for Interface Design helps you design a great user interface by focusing on the most important step in the process -the first one. You learn to go out and observe your users at work, whether they are employees of your company or people in customer organizations. You learn to find out what your users really need, not by asking them what they want, but by going through a process of understanding what they are trying to accomplish. JoAnn Hackos and Janice (Ginny) Redish, internationally known experts in usable design, take you through a step-by-step process to conduct a user and task analysis. You learn: * How interface designers use user and task analysis to build successful interfaces * Why knowledge of users, their tasks, and their environments is critical to successful design * How to prepare and set up your site visits * How to select and train your user and task analysis team * What observations to make, questions to ask, and questions to avoid * How to record and report what you have learned to your development team members * How to turn the information you've gathered into design ideas * How to create paper prototypes of your interface design * How to conduct usability tests with your prototypes to find out if you're on the right track. This book includes many examples of design successes and challenges for products of every kind.

Author Biography

JoAnn T. Hackos is president of Comtech Services, a design consulting firm that specializes in assisting companies to understand their users, design their products and information, conduct usability tests, and manage development projects. Janice (Ginny) C. Redish is president of Redish & Associates, Inc. Ginny helps companies with user and task analysis, usability assessments, interface and information design, and building usability into software and documentation processes.

Table of Contents

Preface xi
About the book xiv(4)
Acknowledgments xviii
Chapter 1. Introducing User and Task Analysis for Interface Design
1(20)
What is this book about?
3(2)
What is interface design?
5(1)
What makes an interface usable?
6(1)
What is user and task analysis?
7(1)
When should you do user and task analysis?
8(3)
Why do user and task analysis at all?
11(2)
Why isn't this done all the time already?
13(1)
Where does user and task analysis come from?
14(5)
References cited in the chapter
19(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
19(2)
Part 1. Understanding the Context of User and Task Analysis 21(106)
Chapter 2. Thinking About Users
23(28)
Why study users?
25(2)
Who are your users?
27(4)
Starting a user and task analysis
31(4)
What do you want to know about your users?
35(1)
Jobs, tasks, tools, and mental models: How users define themselves
35(8)
Individual differences
43(6)
What are the trade-offs?
49(1)
References cited in the chapter
50(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
50(1)
Chapter 3. Thinking About Tasks
51(40)
What is task analysis?
52(2)
Starting with users' goals
54(6)
Identifying different types and levels of task analysis
60(7)
Combining workflow analysis and job analysis
67(2)
Task analysis to develop a task list or task inventory
69(2)
Process analysis, task sequences
71(2)
Task hierarchies
73(2)
Procedural analysis
75(1)
Thinking of users according to their stages of use
76(13)
References cited in the chapter
89(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
90(1)
Chapter 4. Thinking About the Users' Environment
91(20)
Why is environment important?
91(2)
What aspects of the environment are important?
93(5)
What should you look for in the physical environment?
98(8)
What should you look for in the social and cultural environment?
106(3)
What are the trade-offs?
109(1)
References cited in the chapter
109(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
110(1)
Chapter 5. Making the Business Case for Site Visits
111(16)
Challenging or verifying your assumptions
111(4)
Countering objections to doing user and task analysis
115(6)
Preparing a business proposal
121(5)
References cited in the chapter
126(1)
Part 2. Getting Ready for Site Visits 127(114)
Chapter 6. Selecting Techniques
129(26)
Observing, listening to, and talking with users
130(5)
Interviewing users and others
135(7)
Working with users away from their work sites
142(3)
Using more traditional market research techniques
145(5)
Using more traditional systems development techniques
150(3)
Summary
153(1)
References cited in the chapter
153(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
154(1)
Chapter 7. Setting Up Site Visits
155(38)
Issues and objectives
156(4)
Participants
160(11)
Locations
171(4)
Schedule
175(4)
Recruiting
179(10)
Data collection techniques
189(3)
References cited in the chapter
192(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
192(1)
Chapter 8. Preparing for the Site Visits
193(48)
Issues to consider as you prepare
194(1)
Organizing the team
194(4)
Training the team
198(2)
Materials for the site visits
200(9)
What materials will you need for the team to use during the site visits?
209(7)
What materials will you need to facilitate information gathering?
216(2)
Will you videotape? Audiotape?
218(4)
Deciding what you will do with the data
222(5)
Staying organized (building in record keeping)
227(1)
Site Visit Plan
228(1)
Site visit plan for SuperSales
229(11)
Reference cited in the chapter
240(1)
Part 3. Conducting the Site Visit 241(54)
Chapter 9. Conducting the Site Visit-Honing Your Observation Skills
243(30)
Handling the site visit
244(2)
Learning more about the user
246(3)
Taking notes on the user's environment
249(1)
Understanding the users' goals
250(7)
Understanding the users' tasks
257(1)
Asking the user to talk to you and to think aloud
258(1)
Noting where the user starts the task
259(1)
Noting what triggers the task
260(2)
Taking down the level of detail you need for your issues
262(1)
Capturing interactions with other resources: people, paper, programs
263(1)
Separating observations and inferences as you watch users
264(3)
Noting where the user ends the task (what happens next)
267(1)
Noting whether the user successfully met the goal
268(1)
Going on to the next observation or the next part of the site visit
268(1)
Thanking the user, distributing presents, and taking your leave
269(2)
References cited in the chapter
271(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
271(2)
Chapter 10. Conducting the Site Visit-Honing Your Interviewing Skills
273(22)
Listening-the most important part of interviewing
275(1)
Setting expectations about roles and knowledge
276(1)
Planning the questions or issues for site visit interviews
277(1)
Knowing what you are trying to learn
278(1)
Realizing the power of different types of questions
279(2)
Asking neutral questions
281(6)
Respecting silence
287(1)
Watching body language and other signals from users
287(3)
Capturing exactly what the user says
290(1)
Staying close to your site visit plan
291(1)
Being flexible
292(1)
Giving users opportunities to answer the questions you didn't ask
293(1)
Handling questions from users
293(1)
References cited in the chapter
294(1)
Part 4. Making the Transition from Analysis to Design 295(144)
Chapter 11. Analyzing and Presenting the Data You Have Collected
299(46)
Methods for organizing and analyzing your data
302(27)
Other methods for analyzing your data
329(4)
Methods of enhancing your presentations
333(3)
Selecting the best methods for your analysis
336(3)
Selecting the right methods for analysis depends on team issues
339(5)
References cited in the chapter
344(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
344(1)
Chapter 12. Working toward the Interface Design
345(30)
Designing from what you've learned
347(1)
Qualitative usability goals and measurable objectives
348(3)
Objects/Actions: Nouns/Verbs
351(2)
Metaphors for the interface design
353(6)
Use scenarios
359(2)
Use sequences
361(3)
Use flow diagrams
364(1)
Use workflows
365(2)
Use hierarchies
367(2)
Storyboarding and sketching
369(3)
Video dramatizations
372(2)
References cited in the chapter
374(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
374(1)
Chapter 13. Prototyping the Interface Design
375(30)
Setting the background
376(5)
Building prototypes
381(5)
Evaluating prototypes
386(15)
Continuing the process
401(2)
References cited in the chapter
403(1)
Other books and articles for further reading
404(1)
Chapter 14. User and Task Analysis for Documentation and Training
405(34)
What types of documents and training materials need user and task analysis?
406(1)
What counts as documentation or training in a software application?
407(2)
Why are there so many types of communication in software?
409(2)
Who should prepare documentation and training materials?
411(1)
Why should you do user and task analysis for documentation and training?
411(2)
What might you do during site visits if your focus is documentation or training?
413(5)
What can you do with the information you gather during site visits?
418(5)
How do you move from decisions to prototypes?
423(2)
User's manuals: Why is organizing by users' tasks so important?
425(2)
Getting started manuals: What is minimalism?
427(1)
Online help: What do people want to know?
428(2)
On the screen: What is an embedded performance support system?
430(2)
What about the Web?
432(3)
What about computer-based and Web-based training?
435(1)
Summary
436(1)
References cited in the chapter
436(2)
Other books and articles for further reading
438(1)
Bibliography 439(8)
Appendix A. Template for a Site Visit Plan 447(8)
Issues and objectives 447(1)
Participants 448(1)
Locations 448(1)
Schedule for the field study project 449(1)
Recruiting 450(1)
Data collection techniques and schedule for each site visit 450(1)
Teams 451(1)
Materials 451(1)
Media 452(1)
Data analysis and reporting 452(1)
Appendixes 453(2)
Appendix B. Resources 455(2)
Appendix C. Guidelines for User-Interface Design 457(22)
Menus 458(2)
Windows 460(4)
Dialog boxes 464(3)
Controls 467(4)
Icons 471(2)
Color 473(2)
Behavior 475(2)
Language 477(2)
Index 479

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