CollabDesk - GR3 Prototyping

Briefing

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.

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?

Scenario Tasks

You are a student desk worker at Baker; your shift just started and you logged into CollabDesk.

1. First you need to get up to speed on what happened on other shifts by reading your unread messages.

Task: 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: 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: Find and reply to the appropriate message about Mary’s lost cell phone.

Prototype Photos

View	Task 1: Read Messages	Task 2: Create New Message	Task 3: Reply to a Message
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.
Left Pane
	Here the user can see their unread messages in the 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.

Observations

Task 1: Read Messages

Task 2: Create New Message

Task 3: Reply to a Message

Critical Incidents

Unread messages lack proper affordances
- User SF1 was confused by shaded (selected) message and what that meant
- User DCF1 began clicking through every messageUsability Considerations
Should message be opened by default? If so, which one?
Proper affordances for “unread messages” (may be more clear with computer prototype)