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 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.

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	Not sure which messages are unread one user thought selected email was unread because of shading, other started clicking through every message Message automatically opened on sign-in confused some users	Expected functionality from template (default fill in for subject, message, hash tags) "Note vs Issue" made users confused "Template" dropdown, checkboxes were overlooked Trash can (delete) button confused users
Usability Issues	U 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).	Visibility of advanced features lacking:

Overall:

Prototype Iteration

Browse messages (Left pane)	Read message (Top right pane)	Create new message (Bottom right pane)	Reply to message (Bottom right pane)
Added “High priority” and/or “Alert desk captain” icons to quick view of messages.	Added “Edit” and “Delete” buttons. The “Delete” button does not permanently remove messages. Previously, we always showed “High priority” and “Alert desk captain” icons on each message, and highlighted them if they applied to the message. Changed it so they only appear when they have been selected.	Changed trashcan icon to a “Clear” button to make it more clear that clicking this clears all the fields in this panel. Removed “Close” icon, which had been an “X”. Changed “Minimize” icon from “-“ to double down carets. Changed panel heading from “New message from <Desk worker name>” to “Create New Message”. Created titles, tags, and skeleton messages for each template in the “Templates” drop-down menu. Increased font size of “Alert desk captain”, “High priority”, and “Note vs. Issues” choices. Added an example tag: #example, instead of showing just “#”. Changed “Title” to “Subject” to more closely follow Gmail analogy.	Filled in “Subject” line with “Re: Original Message Subject” as in Gmail. This field is editable.

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).

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