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Session 4

Read Contextual design file (enclosed).

Contextual DesignContextual Design is a state-of-the-art approach to designing products directly from a

designers understanding of how the customer works. Great product ideas come from the

marriage of a designers detailed understanding of a customers need and his or her in-depth

understanding of the possibilities introduced by technology. The best product designs result

when the products designers are involved in collecting and interpreting customer data and

appreciate what real people need. Contextual Design gives designers the tools to do just that.

Contextual Design starts by recognizing that any system embodies a way of working. A sys-

tems function and structure force users to accept particular strategies, language, and

work flow. Successful systems offer a way of working that customers want to adopt. Con-textual Design is a method that helps a cross- functional team come to agreement on what

their customers need and how to design a sys- tem for them.

According to the Contextual Design approach, data gathered from customers is the

base criterion for deciding which needs to address, what the system should do, and how

it should be structured. The process guides the design team in understanding and redesigning

customers work, using those decisions to help define computer systems to support them. By

explicitly defining the work and the system, Contextual Design unifies design, marketing,

delivery, and support in a coherent response to the customer. It gives a team activities focused

on the customers and their work, rather than leaving team members to argue over personal

opinion, anecdotes, or unverifiable claims about what customers would like.When a team begins work, it has to decide how to approach the task of deciding what to

build. Design methods define a coherent series of actions that lead a team, we hope, to

a well-designed system. But every problem is different, and every team and organizational

system are different; any design method must accommodate specific needs. Because Contex-

tual Design deals with the front end of design, from finding out who your customers are to

testing a specific solution for them, it offers a useful framework for tailoring a design pro-

cess. Individual steps can be shortened or omitted if they arent applicable, or a step can

be elaborated with additional techniques if it is important.

CIRCADIAN RHYTHMBiological cycle lasting approximately 24 hours.

All living beings plants, animals, and human beings are regulated by biological cycles, or,

in other words, biological events that repeat themselves at regular intervals. The rhythm of

these cycles is called circadian when it spans about 24 hours. In humans, the sleep-wake cycle

obeys a circadian rhythm.

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Work modeling

Work practices are analyzed and detailed work models are created in order to understand the

workflow. Contextual design consists of five work models which are used to model the work

tasks and details of the working environment. These work models are[2]:

Flow model - represents the coordination, interaction and responsibilities of the people

in a certain work practice

Sequence model - represents the required steps to accomplish a certain activity

Cultural model - represents the norms, influences, and pressures that are present in the

work environment

Artifact model - represents the documents or other products that are created while

working. Artifacts often have a structure or styling that could represent the user's way

of structuring the work

Physical model - represents the physical environment where the work tasks are

accomplished; often, there are multiple physical models representing, e.g., office

layout, network topology, or the layout of tools on a computer display.

What is an Affinity Diagram?

An Affinity Diagram is a tool that gathers large amounts of language data (ideas,

opinions, issues) and organizes them into groupings based on their natural

relationships (Viewgraph 1). The Affinity process is often used to group ideas

generated by Brainstorming.

Why should teams use the Affinity process?

The Affinity process is a good way to get people to work on a creative level to address

difficult issues. It may be used in situations that are unknown or unexplored by ateam, or in circumstances that seem confusing or disorganized, such as when people

with diverse experiences form a new team, or when members have incomplete

knowledge of the area of analysis.

When should we use the Affinity process?

The Affinity process is formalized in an Affinity Diagram and is useful when you want

to (Viewgraph 2)

! Sift through large volumes of data. For example, a process owner who is

identifying customers and their needs might compile a very large list of

unsorted data. In such a case, creating an Affinity Diagram might be helpful

for organizing the data into groups.

! Encourage new patterns of thinking. An Affinity exercise is an excellent wayto get a group of people to react on a "gut level" rather than mulling things

over intellectually. Since Brainstorming is the first step in making an Affinity

Diagram, the team considers all ideas from all members without criticism. This

stimulus is often enough to break through traditional or entrenched thinking,

enabling the team to develop a creative list of ideas.

When shouldn't we use the Affinity process?

As a rule of thumb, if less than 15 items of information have been identified, you can

skip the Affinity process. Instead, you can clarify and combine the ideas and then

use one of the Decision-Making Tools to identify the highest priority items

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contextual_design#cite_note-secondary-1%23cite_note-secondary-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contextual_design#cite_note-secondary-1%23cite_note-secondary-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contextual_design#cite_note-secondary-1%23cite_note-secondary-1

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Commonality:

A shared feature or attribute

The possession, along with another or others, of a certain attribute or set of attributes

References:

http://regexp.bjoern.org/archives/000138.html

http://www.achs.org.au/pdf/tue.ws5.sanderson.pdf

http://regexp.bjoern.org/archives/000138.htmlhttp://www.achs.org.au/pdf/tue.ws5.sanderson.pdfhttp://regexp.bjoern.org/archives/000138.htmlhttp://www.achs.org.au/pdf/tue.ws5.sanderson.pdf