larry constantine
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UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRAConstantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
Activity Modelingand Service Innovation
Larry Constantine IDSADirector, Lab:USE, University of Madeira
Laboratory for Usage-centered Software Engineering
1 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
Innovation in Context
Engagement with products and services always takes place in a larger context of human activity.
other peoplevaried artifactsother activities
Innovation is easy.Effective innovation depends on insight into the activity context.Service engineeringneeds to model what people are really doing.
2 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
The Business Process Perspective
Business processesSet of interconnected “activities” transforming information or artifacts into more valuable forms.Performed by human actors and/or systems.Decomposable into elementary business processes:
one person at one time adding significant value and resulting in a consistent state.
Series of steps to produce a product or serviceordered in time and spacestructured, boundedembodying business logicdefined inputs and outputs
Various notations, but primarilyprocess decompositionprocess flow now
in
UML
3 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
An Activity Perspective
Human activityloosely ordered collections of actions having distinct but disparate goals contributing to a shared or common purpose
performed by human actorsmediated by artifacts
flexible, adaptive, changeableshaped by and highly dependent on context and changing conditionsoperationalized through practiceorganized by established and emergent social, cultural, and personal rules and guidelines as well as formally defined ones
So, what do you think of activity theory?
So, what do you think of activity theory?
4 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
Activity Theory Condensed
Created by early 20th century Russian psychologists Rubinshtein, Leontiev, and Vygotsky.More recently popularized by Bonnie Nardi and others.*Not so much a theory as a conceptual framework.Some prior attempts to systematize and operationalize.**Hierarchical structure of activity (three levels of analysis):
activities are motivated, purposive, and consist ofactions directed toward a distinct, specific conscious goal, comprisingoperations—ways of executing actions, either deliberately or reflexively, adapted to conditions
ACTIVITY – PURPOSE
ACTION – GOAL
OPERATION – CONDITIONS
Somewhat complicated and
a little vague!
* Nardi (ed.) Context and Consciousness. 1996.Gay & Hembrooke. Activity-Centered Design. 2004.Nardi & Kaptelinin, Acting with Technology. 2006.
** Duignan, Noble, & Biddle, 2006Kaptalinin, Nardi, & Macaulay, 1999
5 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
constrained by rules and differentiated responsibilities or roles within a community.
in a transformational process yielding a result(outcome)
Activity Theory Condensed
* after Engeström, 1999
TOOL
SUBJECT OBJECT
RULES COMMUNITY ROLES
OUTCOMETRANSFORMATIONALPROCESS
All human activity is mediated by tools.Supporting activity requires designing effective tools.Designing effective tools requires insight into activity.
TOOL
Human activity* is performed by actors (subjects) motivated by purposes (objects) and mediated by tools(artifacts)
6 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
Project Archeology
Resource – 8 design projects over 13 years, including two very large (50 and 1000+ developer-years)
Investigation – digging into relevance and effect of activity context from recall, review of design artifacts -
evident impact on interaction designpotential improvement if better understoodevidence of ad hoc modeling
Notation and notions revised through two rounds of feedback from colleagues.Most needed modeling:
composition/aggregation of tasks (use cases) into activitiestemplates of salient aspects of activitiessimple pictures of activity context.
© 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
7 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
Activity Map
A diagram showing how focal activities (engaging with service or product) and other activities (connected and unconnected) are related.
traveling (in transit)
making travel arrangements
participating in overseas conference/meeting
last-minute preparing
getting reimbursed
participating (after arrival)
On-line travel booking service.
includes
precedesprecedes
includes
precedes
Always more complicated than it seems!Consider…
includes
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UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
Participation Map
Diagram showing how actors engaged with product or service and other participants are involved with each other and with artifacts within activities.
travelarranger
invoice
itinerary ticket/e-ticket
otherparties
reimburser
travelsite
bookingsystem
CCnetwork
repayment
making travel arrangements
getting reimbursed
Consider proximal activities…
calendar
budget
meetingplan
9 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
Activity Profile
A template-based description of aspects of an activity salient for service or product design.
PurposePurpose – set up convenient, affordable travel in reasonable amount of time Place and TimePlace and Time – typically office, may be last minute, usually some time pressureParticipationParticipation –some experience likely, more if not traveler; artifacts include calendar, budget, tickets, payment, meeting/conference agenda, other sites,…PerformancePerformance – complicated, unpredictable, multidimensional process, multiple input parameters and constraints; exploring alternative schedule, carriers, routes; easy to make mistakes, costly, hard to find
making travel arrangements
10 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
A diagram (or matrix) showing the tasks involved in an activity.
Performance Map
finding problem in KBquick/memory answer
escalating problem
sending/reading IM/emailconferencing w/associate
passing situation/record
learning/clarifying problem
greeting customergiving solution/answer
getting next queued calllogging call/issue/resolution
getting customer details
getting answer from FAQs
1. |get caller identifying information|
2. give caller identifying information
4. |confirm ID with caller|5. select customer
3. offer customers with confirming information
6. offer details, history of selected customer
getting customer details1. |get caller identifying
information|2. give caller identifying
information4. |confirm ID with caller|5. select customer
3. offer customers with confirming information
6. offer details, history of selected customer
getting customer details
question answering
independent problem solving
providing telephone technical support
collaborative problem solving
includes
precedes
A diagram (or matrix) showing the tasks involved in an activity. Tasks (use cases) may also be detailed Operationally in essential form.
11 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
Process Modeling or Activity Modeling
Business process modeling promotessystems and processes in chargeprocess embedded in systems, executable, simulatedlock-step performancedumbing down human activitycomplicating the system
Activity modeling promoteshumans in controlflexible performancethoughtful system/service boundariespeople do what people do bestsystems do what systems do best
12 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
Human Activity Modeling in Sum
Activities provide larger context within which systems and services are engaged with and experienced.Human Activity Modeling anchors experience design and service engineering with use case modeling in firm foundations of established activity theory.Systematic, integrated definitions and notation enable concise, precise models of complete context.Common notation and vocabulary link service design and system/software design.Fuller consideration of larger activity context highlights opportunities for service innovation and guidesservice engineering.
13 © 2008, Constantine & Lockwood, Ltd.
UNIVERSIDADE da MADEIRA
Selected Resources
Constantine, L. L. (2004) “Beyond User-Centered Design and User Experience.” Cutter IT Journal, 17, 2: 2-11; also at foruse.com
Constantine, L. L. (2008) “Human Activity Modeling” In Seffah, A., Vanderdonckt, J. and Desmarais, M. (Eds.) Human-Centered Software Engineering. Vol. II. Springer-Verlag; also at foruse.com
Duignan, M., Noble, J., & Biddle, R. (2006) “Activity theory for design.”Proceedings, HWID 2006. University of Madeira.
Engeström, Y., Miettinen, R. & Punamäki, R-L. (Eds.) (1999). Perspectives on Activity Theory. Cambridge University Press.
Gay, G. & Hembrooke, H. Activity-Centered Design. (2004) MIT Press.Kaptalinin, V., Nardi, B. A., & Macaulay, C. (1999)
“The Activity Checklist.” Interactions 6, 4: 27-39Nardi, B. (ed.) (1996) Context and Consciousness. MIT Press.Nardi, B., and Kaptelinin, V. (2006) Acting with Technology:
Activity Theory and Interaction Design. MIT Press. Norman, D. (2005) “Human-Centered Design Considered
Harmful.” Interactions,12, 4: 14-19; also at jnd.com