This site is rarely updated. benbrophy.com is more up-to-date. - Ben
Generating actors and Tasks
I was in a meeting today using a some "High-Tech Anthropology" techniques to generate ideas for an improved resources tool for Sakai. The the most important goal of the meeting was to gather our input fast.
Here's the process:
- Quickly write up a brief problem statement in small groups
- Brainstorm a list of 'Actors' who interact with the tool (e.g. Instructors, students, librarians, etc.)
- Brainstorm a list of actions the actors would do in using tool (e.g. import last semester's class, search repository for class materials)
- Categorize and refine those lists
- Create a matrix of the two, and in date how often the actors do the tasks (e.g. instructors export sites once a semester, students download files hourly)
- Vote on which actions we think would reap the highest benefit for our users
- Look at the results of steps 5+6 to pick a few actions to start with to create use case scenarios.
The meeting was really productive as we went through the 4 stages. I thought we generated a lot of information and ideas fast, and we started forming a rough shared vision of the task ahead.
We lost focus as the day wore on - we were getting rushed, and there was a bit of confusion over our process, especially step 7 when we spent a lot of time messing with an excel spreadsheet and slowly realizing we were treating qualitative information as if it was quantitative and it just wasn't working.
The day a real success, despite the seventh inning slump. We generated a list of clear requirements for the lead designers, and they also got significant buy-in from the rest of the team. I'd love to try the first 5 tasks the next time we have a client who is sure how to define their project.