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Desk workers are central to the smooth operation of most MIT dorms. Frequently, small issues may arise on one desk worker’s shift that other desk workers will need to know about. For example, someone may bring a lost phone to desk that is not picked up until the next day on another worker’s shift. Other times, a desk worker may simply need to share a note with everyone, such as a reminder to tidy up the desk before the end of your shift. Since these types of issues and notes are common, they need an efficient way to share them with all the other desk workers. CollabDesk is a tool for desk workers to efficiently share this information with each other by reading and writing messages for all desk workers to see .
As you use CollabDesk, keep in mind that we are testing the interface, not you. There may be some aspects of the interface that make it hard to use, so please think out loud as you work on each task so we can identify any flaws in the interface. You may stop and leave at any time, and your test will be completely confidential. Do you have any questions before we begin?
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1. First you need to get up to speed on what happened on other shifts by reading your unread messages.
Task 1: Read all of your unread messages.
2. A resident, Jack, comes to desk to pick up a package. You go to the back room to find his package but it appears to be missing. You reassure him that his package was probably misplaced and create a new message on CollabDesk to let other desk workers know of his missing package. You know the desk captain of Baker takes missing packages very seriously so you would also like to alert the desk captain in your message.
Task 2: Create a new message about Jack’s missing package and alert the desk captain.
3. Later on in your shift, another resident, Mary comes to desk looking for her lost cell phone, which is a blue Motorola. You find it behind desk, and return it to her. You find the original message on CollabDesk about her lost phone and reply to it, stating to whom it has been returned.
Task 3: Find and reply to the appropriate message about Mary’s lost cell phone.
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View | Task 1: Read Messages | Task 2: Create New Message | Task 3: Reply to a Message |
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Main | | | |
| This is the central view of CollabDesk, with the browsing pane on the left and the reading/writing pane on the right. The individual panes are shown closer up below. |
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Left Pane | | | |
| Here you the user can see their unread messages in the |
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Right Pane | | | |
Observations
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top section with bolded titles. The currently selected message is shaded gray. Messages can be scrolled through or searched. | The user's unread messages have all ben read now, so no messages are bolded. | As the user types their search query, we autocomplete after 3 characters. When you press enter, the messages are now filtered by "phone". | |
Right Pane | | | |
| The top half shows the currently selected message. Pertinent information like the title, who wrote it and when are visible at the top; on the upper right corner the two icons are grayed out, indicating that this message is not high priority and has not been alerted to the desk captain. | The user picks a template from the dropdown menu, writes their title, and fills in the message. The tags section at the bottom of the Create Message area got cut off, but there you can specify tags with a # for keywords or categories. | The user has responded appropriately to the lost phone message, and now it appears underneath the original message. |
Round 1 Observations
| Task 1: Read Messages | Task 2: Create New Message | Task 3: Search and Reply to a Message |
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Critical Incidents |
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Usability Issues | Unread messages lack proper affordances. | Visibility of advanced features lacking. | Perceived User Model of "Reply" varies. |
Overall:
Several users compared CollabDesk to Gmail, an unintended but logical connection (some of the UI is modeled after Gmail) but this metaphor is not entirely appropriate since there are inconsistencies between this and an email system (messages are not "sent", they are posted, more like a Facebook wall).
Unread messages lack proper affordances. Multiple users had trouble identifying which messages were unread. Currently, unread messages were simply bolded (similar to Gmail), but some users missed this or thought the selected (shaded) message meant that message was unread (the shaded message reflects the message this is currently open). This may be a result of paper prototyping and this issue may resolve itself with a computer prototype. This should be tested in the computer prototype.
Tasks should be added/edited to focus on the usability of advanced features (distinction between note and issue, hash tags for search filtering). This may be easier in the computer prototype.
Round 1 Prototype Iteration
Browse messages (Left pane) | Read message (Top right pane) | Create new message (Bottom right pane) | Reply to message (Bottom right pane) |
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Round 2 Observations
| Task 1: Read Messages | Task 2: Create New Message | Task 3: Search and Reply to a Message |
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Critical Incidents |
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Usability Issues | Unread messages lack proper affordances. | Visibility of advanced features lacking. | Visibility of Reply |
Overall:
We conducted the second round of user tests on 3 desk workers. Several of them thought the advanced features (marking messages as a note/issue, high/low priority, etc) could be useful on the job. One user indicated they would use a feature that would automatically include resident's information (room number, phone number, etc) when their name was used in a message, which is a feature we wanted to add to CollabDesk but which was not covered in the scope of our tasks because it's not a key desk worker task.
When asked, several users said they would find it useful to be able to see which messages were "resolved" or "unresolved" when scrolling through old messages.
When comparing CollabDesk to a logbook (current system of information persistence at some dorms), one user noted that desk workers must initial after they have read a message in the logbook (there is a monetary bonus at the end of the year if a desk worker read every message). Implementing a feature where it is recorded which desk workers read a message (similar to Facebook Message's "seen by" feature) may be appropriate.
Round 2 Prototype Iteration
Browse messages (Left pane) | Read message (Top right pane) | Create new message (Bottom right pane) | Reply to message (Bottom right pane) |
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