PROJECT SCENARIOS, COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS,
AND PRELIMINARY DESIGN .... ..1 | 2 | 3

	Vocabulary [Updated]
	Personas & Primary Tasks Analysis [Revised]
	Team Tasks [Updated]
New Sections
	Scenarios The Personae Scenarios Creation Process Table: Scenario Tasks and Preliminary Features based on Potential Needs Scenario 1: Registration Scenario 2: Planning an Immediate Event Scenario 3: Planning a Future Event Scenario 4: After-Event Task: Writing a Review	1
	Competitive Analysis	2
	Preliminary Design	3
	Appendices Notes about Personalization and Customization.

..........................................................................................................................

Scenarios

To ground our discussion and analysis, we studied the conceptual differences between Personalization and Customization methods. A summary of our readings is presented at Notes about Personalization and Customization.

The Personas Scenarios Creation Process

Scenario is a concise description of a potential user (persona) performing some tasks in an information system to achieve the user goal. It helps to test validity of the design and its assumptions. Building scenarios requires an immersion in the Personas "inner goals and behaviors", a context and task details. It is important to remember that the tasks are fluid and changeable. Also, according to Cooper's design model, scenarios can be daily (the most frequent ones); necessary (those that might be performed once or eventually) and edge ones (based on specific cases and user type).

Each group member was responsible for creating a scenario based on a persona and the persona's Primary Tasks analysis. Since some tasks are common to more than one persona, we delegated specific primary tasks based on how well the primary task matches the persona's needs. We then refined the scenarios, redefining a context and the tasks that would suit it. The scenarios' definition and redefinition process took several hours each during two group meetings.

The final scenario versions are presented bellow. And the table Scenario Tasks and Preliminary Features based on Potential Needs presents those preliminary features according to task frequency [daily, necessary, edge case], information delivery [on-demand, proactively], needs [individual, groups], time [planning, after-event].

^

Scenario 1. Registration >> Chris We choose Chris to initiate the registration process. She is the least Internet savvy of all personae. The registration process should be quick and easy for all users to not only sign up but also to customize personal areas.

Context: Chris just heard from a friend that she could receive information about free events and promotions by e-mail. All she would need to do is to sign up for a newsletter at the SFnight website. Chris types sfnight.com and glances at the home page to find something about the newsletter and signing up. She saw some thing about signing up MySFnight and also the newsletter. She clicks on something and the registration process starts.

Scenario Tasks:

1. She clicks a button and a new page appears.
2. She reads about what she could get with MySFnight. There is also a link to Privacy Policies, but Chris does not follow the link.
3. She enters her e-mail and a few pieces of other information, including choosing a password based on the name of a favorite singer. She selects disco, hip-hop and funk for the kind of music and dancing she is interested in. She also makes sure to select "free stuff".
4. She keeps the "yes" at the Newsletter option, and also in the partner ones. She thinks she might receive other promotions from them as well.
5. She then clicks in button to finalize this process.
6. Next she receives a greeting page, welcoming her to MySFnight and saying that a newsletter confirmation message is being sent to her e-mail account.

What she received: a confirmation e-mail with further instructions to remove and change options, password help and also a link in case she would like to make additional comments to SFnight.

^

Scenario 2. Planning an Immediate Event >> Leonardo For this event planning Leonardo will be sharing some information with friends. He might use some customized features or general ones.

Context: We all know that Leonardo usually doesn't go to the same bar, consequently the bartender does not know 'his favorite drinks'. [see Jeff Bezos's observation about the ultimate in Personalization]. Thursday eveing, Leonardo is at SO's [significant other] apartment, plugged into the Internet with his laptop, when he receives a message from the SO about the evening, :

"Some colleagues would like to go out tonight with us, but we are too busy at the moment to make any arrangement. Please, please, send us some options, someplace to have fun. We'll try to decide and let you know once we have the info, and we all meet there. Better close to Mission, my car will not fit everybody. xx SO"

Leonardo goes to SFnight web site, where he usually finds a couple of things and sends the options to SO and colleagues. Well, SO said 'have fun', which is the sign saying SO is in the mood for live music or a dancing thing.

Scenario Tasks:

1. Leonardo goes to SFnight homepage
2. He first glances at his MySFnight area, a small area at SFnight home page, which displays what goes on tonight for under Favorite Events. The music type was determined by Leonardo previously. There are three recommendations for Latin music and one for World music.
3. He has also previously book marked a couple of places that he would like to try next at Favorite Venues. A few things are happening at those places.
4. After reviewing options in both areas he selects a few things close to the Mission with the Add to My List "function" (method and final name to be determined).
5. He also goes to site's general location search area and chooses the Mission option. He choses a few more dancing and live music events for tonight.
6. Then he reviews everything on his list. He removes two off the list since at second look the events seem to be targeting younger crowds. He writes some comments about one of the Latin events. He knows the band and thinks most people would enjoy the group. Since sometimes there would be a client or two from out of town joining the group, Leonardo feels the remaining selection covers enough ground for his SO and collegues to make a choice that would accomodate everyone's interests.
6. He selects the "function" to email his list and comments to others, copys the SO's collegues who normally go out with them, and writes a small message saying that 'just let me know your decision and I will meet there'.
7. He picks the option of sending by ASCII and sends the email.
8. Ten minutes later he receives a message saying that they will meet at the dancing club he recommended.

What his friends received: A message with his options and comments. A short description of the events, address and a link to map. All plain text.

How his friends answered: SO replyed to the email.

Other Necessary Tasks 1. Delete the list [already available] 2. Erase some options of the list [also already available] 3. Save the list and don't send, since another user might stop in the middle and decide to finish and send later. The current system saves for two weeks.

^

Scenario 3. Planning a Future Event >> Stefan

Context: It is Wednesday evening and Stefan is still at work. There is a project deadline Stefan needs to meet before the weekend. One of Stefan's friends from New York is coming to SF with his girlfriend for the weekend. Stefan will be spending Saturday evening with them . He wants to take a quick break from work and logs on to his MySFnight to get some quick ideas of things to do on Saturday evening.

Scenario Tasks:

1. He selects Saturday from a pick list and scans for what is happening at the Jazz events from his Favorite Events area at mySFnight home page.
2. He marks at the Favorite Events area a few events that look interesting. He also looks at his Venue listing, a area where he has his favorite venues and others he would like to go next, to see if any of his favorite bands may be in town and performing over the weekend. Bobo Stenson Trio will be performing at a venue Stefan is not familiar yet, but has been interested in going next. Stefan is thinking of taking his friends somewhere where he knows a little more about the venue and the neighborhood so they can do dinner without having to go somewhere else. Since he knows his friend also likes the Bobo Stenson Trio, Stefan adds the event to his Favorite events/calendar anyway.
3. Out of curiosity, he does a quick search to see when and where else Bobo Stenson is performing if they decide not to go on Saturday.
4. Stefan takes a quick look at his watch, it is getting late, he has spend too much time reading about Bobo Stenson's latest performance. He clicks on the calendar icon to quickly review potential things he has picked out so far.
5. Satisfied with the short list displayed for Saturday, Stefan logs off and goes back to reviewing some business reports.

^

Scenario 4. After-Event Task: Writing a Review >> Rich

Context: Finally it's weekend again. Rich's group has just completed a project and send the code to NEC. Everyone is in the mood for a wilder night in the City. The boss has promised everyone a free drink before dinner and all follow the boss to a bar. No sooner than stepping inside the door Rich discovers it's the very one where he and his friends once had a bad experience. Too late. Perhaps things have changed a bit, Rich hopes secretly. No way. Service is still pretentious; drink poor - watery and tasteless; and the wine list limited. Everyone shrugs it off. On the way back, Rich's boss suggests they should let the words spread as a retaliation. 'Why bother,' says Rich, 'I just jot down something on SFnight website and everyone will know. Maybe they then take service seriously.'

Scenario Tasks:

1. Rich is a registered SFnight user. The next day when he is free, he logs on to SFnight website with his e-mail address and password.
2. He goes directly to review area by click 'What folks are saying ...'
button, select the bar name, and gives his rating for categories like
'Atmosphere', 'Drinks', 'Food', 'Wine List', 'Service', 'Value for your
money'. Then he gives it a reasonably poor 'Overall Experience'.
3. In the space provided at the bottom of the page, Rich fills in his comment. It soon reaches the 70-word limit, so he clicks on 'Submit' and gets a 'Thank you' page.
4. The 'Thanks you' page has a quick link to the comments submitted on the same bar. Rich clicks the link. It has just updated to include his words.
5. To his amusement, a number of people has already vented their anger there. Some are really funny, so he fills in a few friends' e-mail address and click on 'Tell the world!" to send them a copy. Of course, he does not forget to send a copy to his boss.
6. Minutes later, Rich gets a pop-up messenger window. It's the boss, offering another free drink. Gosh, next drink must be in somewhere else, for sure. And hope the boss checks the reviews at SFnight before walking into any bar.
6. Rich takes a quick look at his review history by clicking on 'Read My Reviews!' button. At least he would know which ones to suggest avoiding.

What his friends received: A message with interesting comments about the bar from other users. A link in the email for people who may want to read more and a link for those who are simply interested in learning more about what SFnight has to offer.

---

1 | 2 | 3

 

^