Storyboarding

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Purpose of Storyboarding

To gain an early reaction from users on the concepts proposed for the application.

They are an effective technique for addressing the “Yes, But” syndrome.

The users reaction to features of the proposed system can be observed very early in the development lifecycle.

Human factors experts have promoted storyboarding for years. (This technique is used heavily in the movie industry.)

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Advantages of Storyboarding

It is extremely inexpensive. It is friendly, informal, and interactive. It provides an early view of the user

interfaces of the system. It is easy to create and easy to modify. It can ease the “Blank Page” syndrome.

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Uses of Storyboarding

Speed conceptual development Understand data visualization Define and understand business rules that will be

implemented in a new business application Define algorithms and other mathematical

constructs that are to be executed inside an embedded application

Demonstrate reports or other hard-copy outputs for early review

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Types of Storyboarding

In practice there are no rules, constraints, or fixed constructs for storyboards: they can be anything the team wants them to be.

Most storyboards can be classified as: Passive Storyboards Active Storyboards Interactive Storyboards

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Passive Storyboards

They tell a story to the user. They consist of sketches, pictures,

screen shots, PowerPoint presentations, or sample application outputs.

The analyst plays the role of the system and simply walks the user through the storyboard with a “When you do this, this happens” explanation.

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Active Storyboards

They try to make the user see a movie that hasn’t actually been produced yet.

They are animated or automated (e.g., an automatically sequencing slide presentation or a computer simulation).

They provide an automated description of the way the system behaves in a typical usage situation.

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Interactive Storyboards

They let the user experience the system in as realistic a manner as practical.

They require participation by the user. Interactive storyboards can be

simulations or mock-ups or can be advanced to a point very close to a throwaway prototype

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What Storyboards Do

They are most often used to work through the details of the human-to-machine interface.

Storyboards for user-based systems deal with the three essential elements of any activity:

1. Who the players are (the actors)2. What happens to them (the behavior of the

users and the behavior of the system as it reacts to the users)

3. How it happens (events, states, and state transitions)

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Example Storyboard

Storyboard for an automated-vehicle amusement park ride. The who represented the guests who ride on the

vehicle. The what represented the behavior of the vehicle

as it provided various events for the guests. The how provided further descriptions of how

this interaction happens – events, state transitions – and described both the guest states (surprised, scared) and the vehicle states (accelerating, braking, unloading).

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Tools for Storyboarding

Passive storyboarding constructs can be made out of tools as simple as paper and pencil or post-it notes.

More advanced storyboards can be built using tools like PowerPoint.

Passive, active, and user-interactive storyboards have been built with various tools that allow fast development of user screens and output reports.

Interactive storyboards can be built with tools for interactive prototyping, and tools such as Macromedia’s Director and Cinemation from Vividus Corporation.

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Tips for Storyboarding

Don’t invest too much time in a storyboard. Customers will be intimidated about making changes if it looks to “finalized”.

If you don’t change anything, you don’t learn anything. Make the storyboard easy to modify

Don’t make the storyboard to functional. If you do, some stakeholders may want you to “ship it”.

Whenever possible make the storyboard interactive. The customer’s experience of use will generate more feedback and will elicit more new requirements.

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