[Sigia-l] sitepath diagramming - comparing biased views?

[christina wodtke]

a side note..

> Last question: can we have a show of hands if you've used this technique?


I learned the rudiments of this technique from a architect-- a system
architect. She did this collaboratively with the project team as a way to
quickly flesh out the information she needed to design use cases, use case
maps, and other Rational processes. I took this technique and kept using it,
refining over time... it was always useful when, as a consultant, I had to
quickly understand the system and the businesses plan for it, or when
working on a problem internally (in my mind) to help me make sure I was
getting all the elements of the problem considered, and see if their were
reusable interactive elements. If you are familiar with Rational processes,
or OO, you know a key is abstracting out repeated items and behaviors to
create reusable code.

I doubt anyone will show hands to say they've done it-- if they have they've
probably gotten some use case training at some point of their life and
adapted it also (and even then, maybe not. I've met other folks who know use
cases methodology and don't do them). Because this technique had become to
integral to my work, and had proved so useful over the years, I wanted to
include it in the books because I thought there ought to one or two things
in the book new to the reader, even if the reader was on this list. I think
I have a few others. ;-)

As for use, you can use it before scenarios to figure out what scenarios to
write (because you'll notice which paths are often tread, and thus are key)
but to be quite honest, I often use this technique when there is no time to
do personas, scenarios and full task analysis. It's a fast way to flesh out
an interactive system. I like it because it works.