GR1 - User and Task Analysis
User Analysis
Users' names changed for privacy
User 1: Undergraduate Sophomore at MIT
John is a twenty-year-old college sophomore who is, at this point, unsure of his summer plans. He is studying Management Science (Course 15), and hopes to be working in New York or Boston this summer and/or next summer. He is from a secluded part of St. Louis, and enjoys the privacy of a humble Midwestern town. John has a passion for sports and music; in his free time, he enjoys playing basketball and guitar. As an MIT student, he is relatively technologically savvy, though has no sort of programming / software design experience. His main uses of his computer are browsing the Internet and word processing.
Means of communication. This user mainly communicates with friends and acquaintances via text messaging or email. When making immediate plans with friends, he often calls them directly. He is not a huge fan of other social media outlets, but "would use something that's a completely new service, or if I was given some sort of incentive to sign up."
Travel plans. John generally makes travel plans independently (i.e., without consulting friends) or with the aid of his parents. He says, "I wouldn't go out of my way to find someone else who was going to the same place, but if I did know of anyone who was, either specifically or through a mutual friend, then I would try to coordinate our travel plans." John is not aware of his friends' summer plans, though he and several of his friends are still in the process of making them.
Information security. Internet security is something that John values; he shares his personal details (phone number, home address, etc.) with only his close friends. He wouldn't mind sharing some broader personal information, such as his email address or general summer plans, with the general MIT community. However, he feels strongly about keeping any personal information away from the reaches of the general public. Most of John's personal information on Facebook is kept private, and he is not a highly active Facebook user. He has also never used Twitter or other social media applications.
Task Analysis
1. Registration and Joining a Group
2. Messaging Your Group
3. Inputting Summer Plans
Goal: User enters his/her general summer plans into the web interface, which will allow other users in the group to view these plans.
Preconditions: The user must have created an account and logged in. Before completing this task, the user needs to know his/her summer plans. This task should only need to be performed once or a few times (if the user's summer plans change) for one particular season, so efficiency is not of utmost importance (but still a concern to be kept in mind).
Subtasks: Click the "my profile" button, click the "edit profile" button, enter changes, click the "save changes" button
Exceptions: The user could mistakenly enter incorrect information, so he/she should be able to easily change or undo these actions. Another exception could arise from a lost network connection.
4. Advertising / Bulletin
Goal: On the bulletin page, users can advertise within the group for specific needs (i.e., "Roommate wanted"). This could also be a place where users make day-to-day plans with other group members.
Preconditions: The user must have created an account and logged in. He/she would also need to know specific details regarding what he/she is advertising or looking for. This task could be performed often (even multiple times in one session) and by many users, so efficiency and easy learnability are essential.
Subtasks: Click the "bulletin" button from any page; posting to bulletin: click the "add posting" button, edit information regarding the posting (i.e., description of item being advertised), click the "post to bulletin" button; viewing previous postings: scroll up and down page to see all postings, click on an individual posting title to see specific details
Exceptions: As with many other operations, the user could enter incorrect information, so an undo/edit operation would be necessary. Another point of confusion could arise when a user posts an advertisement on the bulletin that is claimed by another user soon thereafter, but if the advertisement is not taken down, then other users may still think that the item is available.
5. Profile to Publish Information
Goal: Each user will have a profile page, where his/her personal information will be displayed to other members of the group.
Preconditions: The user must be logged in.
Subtasks: Click the "my profile" button, click the "edit my profile" button, change any of the fields (name, age, year, major, phone number, address, summer plans), click the "save changes" button
6. Viewing the Map
Goal: Each user will be able to view a map, which will display .
Preconditions: The user must be logged in.
Subtasks: Click the "view map" button from any page, click and drag the mouse / scroll wheel to move the map and zoom, respectively.
7. Searching for Schedule Overlap
Goal: Users will be able to find other users in the group that have matching schedules.
Preconditions: User must be logged in and must have already inputted his/her summer plans.
Subtasks: