Fluid UX Walkthrough: documentation restructuring and review.

Wed Feb 11 15:01:15 UTC 2009

Thanks Allison, Daphne and Paul for the comments!

I have restored the original version of the UX Checkthrough and
Protocol page so all evaluations are together on the same document.

After I make a pass at modifying and restructuring, I'll need your
eyes to help clarify details.

- Jonathan.

---
Jonathan Hung / jhung.utoronto at gmail.com
Fluid Project - ATRC at University of Toronto
Tel: (416) 946-3002

On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 4:51 PM, Daphne Ogle <daphne at media.berkeley.edu> wrote:
> Sounds like Allison's suggestion of the 3 approaches jives with what Paul
> and Jonathon have said.  I also think this is a good approach.
>
> I also think it is an important point that you do not need to have created
> personas to do a cognitive walkthrough.  You need to understand who the
> users are so you can put yourself in their shoes as you walk through  the
> system (which should be the case even when doing a heuristic evaluation).
>  And you need to understand the tasks they will complete in the system so
> you can step through through those activities and get a feel for what their
> experience should be.  If we've made it sound like user studies and personas
> are a prerequisite than we should probably make some changes.  They make it
> easier to "be the user" for all the reasons we use them in design.
>
> -Daphne
>
> On Feb 6, 2009, at 2:42 PM, Allison Bloodworth wrote:
>
>> Hi Paul,
>>
>> I think you can perform a modified version of a cognitive walk-through
>> without "official" personas...perhaps using something more like provisional
>> personas and scenarios. The key point I think we'd like to preserve is that
>> you are trying to walk through the interface from the perspective of a user
>> as they complete tasks that they'd often be performing. So maybe the answer
>> is provide three methods: 1) heuristic eval, 2) cognitive walkthrough, and
>> 3) combined heuristic eval & cognitive walkthrough--what we were originally
>> calling the "Fluid UX Walkthrough."
>>
>> Thanks much for your help in making sure we present these things in a way
>> all potential users will be able to use! Feel free to ping me if you need
>> any help or advice.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Allison
>>
>> On Feb 6, 2009, at 2:21 PM, Paul Zablosky wrote:
>>
>>> I've been struggling with this since I started working on the pages.  In
>>> reviewing the text I found that we wrote a lot about the Fluid approach of
>>> combining the two techniques and I didn't want to lose it.  Having read
>>> Daphne's, Allison's and Jonathan's messages, I think we must preserve the
>>> idea, but find a way to present the techniques separately for beginners, or
>>> those who are not ready to step up to persona creation.   At the same time
>>> we could talk about how the Fluid project employed and recommended this way
>>> of doing things.
>>>
>>> Paul
>>>
>>> Allison Bloodworth wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi there,
>>>>
>>>> I had the same thoughts I read Paul's email. I feel like one of the
>>>> things we were doing that was a bit unique in Fluid was recommending that we
>>>> combine the two: the heuristic evaluation was performed by reviewing the
>>>> interface using a cognitive walk-though. I feel like that's often what
>>>> happens in practice (at least good practice) in a heuristic evaluation. I am
>>>> a big fan of performing the techniques together myself. Would it help to
>>>> explain the two separately first, then talk about how we combine them?
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Allison
>>>>
>>>> On Feb 5, 2009, at 3:23 PM, Daphne Ogle wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I think this sounds right.  The one aspect I'm not sure about is
>>>>> seperating out the Heuristics from the cognitive walkthroughs.  I hadn't
>>>>> looked at these in quite some time and it looks like the change has already
>>>>> been made so I'm not sure what it looked like before.  As I recall, we did
>>>>> some good work to combine these 2 activities in a way we thought would allow
>>>>> users to get a lot out of them efficiently.
>>>>>
>>>>> -Daphne
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Feb 4, 2009, at 2:08 PM, Paul Zablosky wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello everyone,
>>>>>> Before starting on our renovation of the UX Walkthrough pages in the
>>>>>> wiki, Jonathan and I reviewed the existing content.  At the time it was
>>>>>> written, there was a lot of emphasis on how walkthroughs were being done in
>>>>>> the Fluid project, and the associated benefits to Fluid deliverables.  There
>>>>>> is also material on how heuristic evaluations and cognitive walkthroughs can
>>>>>> be combined and performed in the same pass.
>>>>>> To make the material more approachable to people outside the Fluid
>>>>>> project, we have decided to partition the content so that each technique is
>>>>>> discussed separately, and not recommend the combined approach.  We also
>>>>>> intend to remove some of the text that focuses on Fluid goals, intentions,
>>>>>> and activities, since these aren't properly part of a toolkit or handbook.
>>>>>>  Reference to Fluid examples which add to understanding  will of course
>>>>>> remain.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I think what I'm suggesting is consistent with what is intended for
>>>>>> the whole Design Handbook.  I'm bringing it up because it is somewhat of a
>>>>>> change from what is now there, and we'd like to know if anyone has concerns
>>>>>> about our approach.  Please let us know (Jonathan and me) if you have any
>>>>>> reservations, concerns, or suggestions.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>> Paul
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Jonathan Hung wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi everyone,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Work is commencing on the UX Walkthrough documents on the wiki
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> (http://wiki.fluidproject.org/display/fluid/User+Experience+Walkthroughs).
>>>>>>> Specifically Paul Zablosky and I will be re-examining these documents
>>>>>>> and reorganizing them to be more approachable by individuals/groups
>>>>>>> who are task-oriented.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> For the most part, all the content will remain the same, but
>>>>>>> restructured into appropriate child pages for easier navigation, and
>>>>>>> new text to help guide users who are looking to execute their own UX
>>>>>>> evaluation.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This task is filed under FLUID-2196.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It will probably take a few iterations before we settle on something
>>>>>>> satisfactory, so in the meantime, make sure to wear hardhats and
>>>>>>> regulation-approved footwear when treading through those pages. ;-)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If you have time to help with this, feel free to contact either Paul
>>>>>>> or I for details.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> - Jonathan.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>> Jonathan Hung / jhung.utoronto at gmail.com
>>>>>>> Fluid Project - ATRC at University of Toronto
>>>>>>> Tel: (416) 946-3002
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________________
>>>>>> fluid-work mailing list - fluid-work at fluidproject.org
>>>>>> To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives,
>>>>>> see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work
>>>>>
>>>>> Daphne Ogle
>>>>> Senior Interaction Designer
>>>>> University of California, Berkeley
>>>>> Educational Technology Services
>>>>> daphne at media.berkeley.edu
>>>>> cell (510)847-0308
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________________
>>>>> fluid-work mailing list - fluid-work at fluidproject.org
>>>>> To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives,
>>>>> see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work
>>>>
>>>> Allison Bloodworth
>>>> Senior User Interaction Designer
>>>> Educational Technology Services
>>>> University of California, Berkeley
>>>> (415) 377-8243
>>>> abloodworth at berkeley.edu
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>> Allison Bloodworth
>> Senior User Interaction Designer
>> Educational Technology Services
>> University of California, Berkeley
>> (415) 377-8243
>> abloodworth at berkeley.edu
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> Daphne Ogle
> Senior Interaction Designer
> University of California, Berkeley
> Educational Technology Services
> daphne at media.berkeley.edu
> cell (510)847-0308
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________________
> fluid-work mailing list - fluid-work at fluidproject.org
> To unsubscribe, change settings or access archives,
> see http://fluidproject.org/mailman/listinfo/fluid-work
>