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Scenarios – Recording a Day in the Life

Bob Moll, Monday, June 26, 2006 @ 5:31 pm

One of the simplest and most effective scenarios you can create for an application user (someone who uses an application as part of his or her daily work) is the Day in the Life scenario. It is effective at capturing both tasks and context for using the application.

A series of interview questions can be used to extract the Day in the Life. Some possible questions are:

1. When do you arrive at work?
2. What is the first thing you do?
3. What kind of interruptions do you have?
4. Do you multitask, or finish one thing at a time?
5. How frequently do you use the application during the day?
6. What tasks does the application help you perform?
7. How critical to your job are these tasks?
8. How does the application help you do your job?
9. What does the application not help you with?
10. How much time do you spend during the day using the application?
11. What work is left unfinished at the end of the day?
12. When do you leave?

You can add to this list and modify it as needed. Once you finish your interview, transform the responses into a narrative for an effective Day in the Life scenario.

Topics: Best Practices, Methodology, Personas, Scenarios

user experience design

User Experience Design

Comments: 1 so far

Awesome thoughts - eye opening.

Comment by Tester, Wednesday, October 8, 2008 @ 2:05 pm

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