Making Use: Scenario Based Design of Human Computer Interactions

by John Millar Carroll

Difficult to learn and awkward to use, today's information systems often change our activities in ways that we do not need or want. The problem lies in the software development process. In this book John Carroll shows how a pervasive but underused element of design practice, the scenario, can transform information systems design.Traditional textbook approaches manage the complexity of the design process via abstraction, treating design problems as if they were composites of puzzles. Scenario-based design uses concretization. A scenario is a concrete story about use. For example: "A person turned on a computer; the screen displayed a button labeled Start; the person used the mouse to select the button." Scenarios are a vocabulary for coordinating the central tasks of system development--understanding people's needs, envisioning new activities and technologies, designing effective systems and software, and drawing general lessons from systems as they are developed and used. Instead of designing software by listing requirements, functions, and code modules, the designer focuses first on the activities that need to be supported and the allows descriptions of those activities to drive everything else.In addition to a comprehensive discussion of the principles of scenario-based design, the book includes in-depth examples of its application.

Genres: Design

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was very... thin. I really was hoping to receive a more practical argument for SBD, but the two field examples described in the book are caricatures––the emphasis on the rational process and none on the messy social aspects that might undermine it. I guess I was looking for something closer to Bucciarelli's "Designing Engineers" style of analysis where several ground-level experiences were detailed such that I could access the data behind his arguments. Carroll provided no such transparency and I am left having to place total trust in his vague interpretation.

[Jan D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: Scenarios are short, story like descriptions, often of an interaction of a user with a product. Carrol suggest to use them as a core element in the user centered design of computer programs.

What I liked:
To book connects findings from design research with the suggested use of scenarios. Sadly such research-grounded advice is a rare, here it is well integrated and considers design research and design and planning theory.

The author shows the use and advantages of scenarios in the context of two example projects which makes some suggestions more clear.

What I found difficult: The example projects had resources comparable to bigger academic research projects: They span years and involved several people. The author makes this transparent. There are no specific barriers of using scenarios in smaller projects – not special equipment or many people are needed. However, it would have been very interesting to get to know more.

The social side of project discussions among team members and across hierarchy levels was not very prominent. It would have been interesting to get some insights of which roles scenarios can play in social dynamics.

Readability/Style: Good. Not a particularly easy or quick read, but for a book with somewhat academic content it is pretty good.