[Sigia-l] RE: Sigia-l digest, Vol 1 #581 - 17 msgs

[Bollaert, Jodi]

Hi Andrew,

The drawback in testing both architectures was that we would need to recruit
twice the number of users to help ensure an unbiased test.  (I didn't think
we should run the same users through two tests.)  This would have also
doubled the testing time.

As it turns out, I recommended that we perform some telephone-based user
interviews to see if we could elicit their mental model -- and determine if
it was task-based or product-based.  After 12 interviews with a broad
cross-section of employees (to capture different user group needs), it's
became very clear that their mental model is task-based.  That narrowed our
selection of site architectures to a task-based model.  The challenge we now
have is trying to accommodate everyone's tasks.  They are different across
user groups, which really shouldn't be surprising (but was somewhat so to
the client).  We are still going to incorporate a product orientation, but
it will not be the major navigation strategy.  Products will be selectable
only after users have first selected a major task (e.g. Selling, Recruiting,
Hiring, etc.).  We plan to follow up the interviews with some paper or
interactive prototype testing using the task-based model.

The phone interviews were a very interesting exercise which I would highly
recommend.  The questions for the interview need to be very high-level and
carefully worded so as not to sway users one way or the other.  (See earlier
threads for some great suggestions given by others.)  While it would have
been ideal to meet with users in person and do some contextual analysis
through observation, the telephone seems to have worked pretty well given
our constraints (one week window, widely dispersed audience across U.S.,
etc.).

Thanks so much to everyone that responded.

Jodi

******************************************
Jodi Bollaert
Compuware Professional Services
1.313.227.7300
jodi.bollaert at compuware.com

"Specializing in Usability, Interaction Design, Information Architecture,
Instructional Design, and More."
 

> Message: 9
> Date: Thu, 19 Jun 2003 13:52:30 -0500
> Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Determining Users' Mental Model to Drive Site 
> 	Architecture?
> From: Andrew H Otwell <andrew at heyotwell.com>
> To: "SIGIA sigia-l-asis.org" <sigia-l at asis.org>
> 
> On 6/19/03 11:01 AM, "sigia-l-request at asis.org" 
> <sigia-l-request at asis.org>
> wrote:
> 
> > I understand an open card sort might typically be a good
> > way to go, but my client is wary of that approach since it 
> may totally
> > negate weeks of time they've spent deliberating over two 
> potentially good
> > architectures.  
> 
> In a nutshell, that's the very definition of how business 
> works. Wasted time
> always trumps user needs.
> 
> Seriously, though, couldn't you test the two current ideas to 
> see if either
> is any good?
> 
> andrew



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