Chapter 2: User Analysis & Task Analysis
User Analysis
Definition
- The process of understanding who the users are, what tasks they perform, and the environment in which the system will operate.
Causes
Goals / Objectives
- To design an effective system by answering three key questions:
- Who are the users?
- What are the tasks?
- What is the environment in which the system will operate?
Importance
- Essential for creating systems that align with real user needs, behaviors, and contexts.
Procedures
- Not specified in notes (procedures are detailed in later subtopics like “How to Understand Users?”)
Benefits
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Enables user-centered design that reflects actual usage scenarios.
Examples
- Task: reading news on apps
- User: Elderly vs. teenager
- Environment: Inside MRT/LRT, day/night time
User Types
Definition
- Classification of users based on their familiarity and frequency of system use.
Causes
- Differences in experience, training, and usage patterns lead to distinct user categories.
Goals / Objectives
Importance
- Helps tailor interface design to match user capabilities and expectations.
Procedures
Benefits
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Influences design decisions such as interface complexity, feedback, and input methods.
Examples
- Novice users:
- New lecturer uploading materials to Google Classroom
- Person buying a train ticket online for the first time
- Knowledgeable intermittent users:
- Someone using e-filing for income tax once a year
- Expert/frequent users:
- Users very familiar with systems and computer terminology
Design for Novice Users
Definition
- Interface design principles tailored to users encountering a system for the first time.
Causes
- Novice users lack system knowledge and may feel overwhelmed or hesitant.
Goals / Objectives
- Make the system easy to use without prior training or expertise.
Importance
- Ensures accessibility and reduces frustration for first-time or infrequent users.
Procedures
- Apply the following design guidelines:
- All initiatives should come from the computer (system prompts user actions)
- Each required input should be brief
- No special training should be necessary
- All system messages must be clear and unambiguous
- User decisions should be made from a small set of options
- Provide sufficient feedback and help
Benefits
- Reduces learning time and errors
- Increases user confidence and satisfaction
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Lowers barrier to entry
- Encourages correct usage through guidance
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Prevents user anxiety and improves task completion for inexperienced users.
Examples
- Form fields with clear instructions:
- “Date: _________ (use dd/mm/yy)”
- “Name: __________ (last, first, middle)”
Design for Knowledgeable Intermittent Users
Definition
- Interface strategies for users who understand the task but rarely use the system.
Causes
- Infrequent use leads to difficulty remembering system-specific operations.
Goals / Objectives
- Support recall and relearning through consistency and documentation.
Importance
- Maintains efficiency despite gaps in usage.
Procedures
- Apply these design principles:
- System should be consistent
- Provide good help facilities and documentation
Benefits
- Reduces relearning effort
- Improves task resumption after long breaks
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Consistency aids memory
- Help resources compensate for infrequent use
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Enhances usability for users who return periodically.
Examples
- Annual e-filing tax system requiring consistent layout and accessible help
Design for Expert Users
Definition
- Interface optimizations for users highly familiar with the system and domain.
Causes
- Experts prioritize speed and efficiency over guidance.
Goals / Objectives
- Maximize performance and minimize interaction overhead.
Importance
- Supports productivity for frequent, skilled users.
Procedures
- Apply these design principles:
- Feedback should be brief
- Command sequences should be abbreviated and meaningful (e.g., Unix “cp” for copy)
- Provide keyboard shortcuts where possible
Benefits
- Increases task speed and workflow efficiency
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Faster interaction through shortcuts and abbreviations
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Enables high-performance interaction without unnecessary prompts.
Examples
- Unix command “cp” as an abbreviated form of “copy”
Understanding Users: Requirements
Definition
- Identification of system needs through functional and non-functional requirements.
Causes
- Need to specify both what the system does and how it behaves from a user perspective.
Goals / Objectives
- Capture complete and accurate user and system needs to guide design.
Importance
- Forms the foundation for user-centered system development.
Procedures
- Categorize requirements into:
- Functional requirements: What the system should do (e.g., save historical data)
- Non-functional requirements: How the system works (e.g., usability goals, response time)
Benefits
- Ensures both operational and experiential needs are addressed
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Clear distinction helps prioritize design efforts
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Shapes system capabilities and user experience quality.
Examples
- Functional: “Save historical data”
- Non-functional: “Usability goals, response time”
How to Understand Users? (Data Gathering Methods)
Definition
- Techniques used to collect information about users, their tasks, and contexts.
Causes
- Designers need real-world insights to avoid assumptions about user behavior.
Goals / Objectives
- Gather accurate, contextual data to inform user models and system requirements.
Importance
- Users—not managers or support staff—are the primary focus of design efforts.
Procedures
- Use the following data gathering methods:
- Interviews: Talk to current and potential users to understand:
- Context of product use (when, why, how)
- Domain knowledge
- Goals and motivations
- Mental models
- Problems with current systems
- Focus groups: Gather representative users to answer structured questions and evaluate choices
- Card sorting: Ask users to organize cards with functionality/information to reveal mental models
- Questionnaires: Collect user feedback via surveys (e.g., Likert scale, checkboxes)
- Reliability = consistent results from like-minded users in similar conditions
- Observation:
- Direct: researcher present during task
- Indirect: via video recording
- Notes: people often misreport their own behavior; observation captures real actions
- Caveat: presence of observer may alter behavior (obtrusive)
- Diary studies and web traffic analytics (mentioned briefly)
Benefits
- Provides rich, contextual insights into real user behavior and needs
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Interviews: deep qualitative insights
- Questionnaires: scalable, reliable if well-designed
- Observation: captures actual (not self-reported) behavior
- Card sorting: reveals information architecture preferences
- Disadvantages:
- Questionnaires: require time and effort to design reliably
- Observation: may influence user behavior (Hawthorne effect)
Impact / Effect
- Leads to more accurate user models and better-informed design decisions.
Examples
- Not specified in notes beyond method descriptions
User Needs Analysis
Definition
- Process of classifying and interpreting gathered user data to identify patterns and needs.
Causes
- Raw data must be structured to support design decisions.
Goals / Objectives
- Organize user data using classification criteria to build actionable insights.
Importance
- Enables systematic understanding of diverse user groups.
Procedures
- Classify users by:
- Demographics (e.g., age, gender)
- Occupational experience (e.g., job title, years of experience)
- Educational level
- Experience with similar systems
Benefits
- Helps segment users for targeted design
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Provides organizing principles for complex data
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Supports creation of representative user models (e.g., personas).
Examples
Personas
Definition
- User models represented as specific, individual human beings, synthesized from real observations (not actual people).
Causes
- Need for tangible, relatable representations of user types to guide design.
Goals / Objectives
- Capture user behaviors, motivations, and contexts in a human-centered format.
Importance
- Powerful tools for visualizing and discussing complex user relationships with products and environments.
Procedures
- Create personas using:
- Real-world observation (not self-reported preferences)
- Supporting data: interviews, market research, focus groups, surveys, literature reviews
- Include minimum details:
- First and last name
- Picture
- Demographics (age, location, gender, job title, etc.)
- Identify behavior variables:
- Activities (what, frequency, volume)
- Attitudes (thoughts about product/tech)
- Motivations/Goals (why engaged)
- Skills (capabilities)
- Pain points/frustrations
Benefits
- Makes user needs concrete and design discussions more focused
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Based on observed behavior, not assumptions
- Highlights frustrations and satisfactions (not just likes/dislikes)
- Represents behavior patterns, not job descriptions
- Disadvantages:
- Proto-personas (assumption-based) may lack validity if not research-backed
Impact / Effect
- Prevents “designing for everyone” (which pleases no one); encourages focused solutions.
Examples
- Reference to free persona template: http://fakecrow.com/free-persona-template/
- Contrast:
- ❌ “What people tell you about themselves”
- ✅ “What you observe”
- ❌ “Job description”
- ✅ “Behavior patterns, skills, attitudes, motivations, environment, goals”
Types of Personas
Definition
- Different categories of personas based on purpose and data source.
Causes
- Varying project goals and resource constraints lead to different persona types.
Goals / Objectives
- Match persona type to design or business objective.
Importance
- Ensures appropriate use of personas in different contexts (marketing vs. design).
Procedures
- Marketing personas: focus on demographics, buying motivations, media habits — used for ROI and messaging
- Proto-personas: created quickly with assumptions when time/money is limited; based on secondary research
- Design personas: focus on user goals, current behavior, and pain points; based on field research
Benefits
- Aligns user modeling with project phase and goals
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Marketing personas: good for targeting and messaging
- Design personas: grounded in real behavior for interaction design
- Disadvantages:
- Proto-personas: risk of bias due to lack of primary research
Impact / Effect
- Influences whether design decisions are based on behavior (design personas) or purchasing traits (marketing personas).
Examples
- Not specified in notes beyond definitions
Scenarios
Definition
- Informal narrative descriptions of specific user interactions in a real-world setting, using personas as actors.
Causes
- Need to translate abstract user models into concrete usage stories.
Goals / Objectives
- Imagine how users accomplish tasks to inform requirements and design.
Importance
- Bridges user research and system design through storytelling.
Procedures
- Develop scenarios by:
- Using personas as believable agents
- Setting the interaction in a realistic environmental context
- Deriving content from research and modeling phases
- Focusing on how users accomplish tasks
Benefits
- Makes requirements tangible and context-rich
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Humanizes design process
- Reveals contextual constraints and opportunities
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Guides the creation of user-centered features and interactions.
Examples
- Scenario 1: The Thomson family exploring sailing holidays via a travel agent console; system suggests flotilla holiday for novices
- Scenario 2: Brian downloading a film illegally to preview for Alison, then transferring it to his personal movie player via Bluetooth
Environment Analysis
Definition
- Examination of the physical and social context in which a product will be used.
Causes
- Usage context significantly affects interaction design.
Goals / Objectives
- Map high-level user actions and environmental factors before detailed design.
Importance
- Ensures the system fits real-world usage conditions.
Procedures
- Address questions such as:
- Setting: indoor, outdoor, public, private, noisy, quiet?
- Duration: used for extended periods?
- Interruptions: is the user frequently interrupted?
- Multi-user: multiple people on one device?
- Integration: used with other products?
Benefits
- Prevents design mismatches with real environments
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Captures contextual constraints early
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Informs decisions about input/output methods, screen visibility, sound, privacy, etc.
Examples
- Not specified in notes beyond question prompts
Task Analysis
Definition
- Investigation of existing user activities to understand what people are trying to achieve and how they do it.
Causes
- Need to align new systems with established user behaviors.
Goals / Objectives
- Understand current job performance to design compatible new systems.
Importance
- Ensures continuity and reduces retraining by leveraging existing user habits.
Procedures
- Focus on important tasks and observable actions
- Most popular technique: Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA)
- Break a task into subtasks, then sub-subtasks, etc.
- Start with a user goal
- Identify main tasks to achieve it
- Include actions not related to software (e.g., physical steps)
- HTA steps:
- Identify the task to be analyzed
- Break into subtasks covering the whole area of interest
- Draw as a layered diagram (or list)
- Decide level of detail
- Continue decomposition with consistent numbering
Benefits
- Enables skill transfer from old to new systems
- Supports creation of documentation and training materials
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Users don’t need to significantly alter their approach
- Existing skills remain applicable
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Increases adoption and reduces errors in new systems.
Examples
- Not specified in notes (HTA shown in list/diagram form in original but not described as a narrative example)
Definition
- Additional UX research and modeling techniques beyond personas, scenarios, and HTA.
Causes
- Complex user journeys and service ecosystems require diverse analytical approaches.
Goals / Objectives
- Capture different dimensions of user experience (emotional, temporal, systemic).
Importance
- Expands the designer’s toolkit for comprehensive user understanding.
Procedures
- Use tools such as:
- Empathy mapping
- Customer journey mapping
- Experience mapping
- Service blueprinting
- Job-To-Be-Done framework
Benefits
- Provides multi-faceted views of user interactions across touchpoints and time
Advantages & Disadvantages
- Advantages:
- Each tool highlights different aspects (e.g., emotions, pain points, service gaps)
- Disadvantages:
Impact / Effect
- Supports holistic, end-to-end experience design.
Examples
- Reference links provided: