CS2003 - Week 20 - User Requirements Gathering

User requirements

What a system should do to meet user needs (features/functions)

Usability Requirements

How effectively users can use the system (qualities)

Why Gather Requirements

Systems fail to meet user needs, stakeholder conflicts, waste resources fixing issues post-launch

ISO 13407 Standard for UCD

Identify users, set measurable goals, prioritise, documents requirements clearly

How to gather requirements

Interviews/Surveys, Contextual Inquiry, Personas/Scenarios

Personas

Fictional archetypes representing users to build empathy, guide design decisions and avoid assumptions

User Stories vs Scenarios

Scenario: Narrative of a persona's interaction; User Story: Agile format 'As a user...'

Guerrilla Personas

Quick, informal, low-resource personas

Pros and Cons of Guerrilla personas

Pros: Fast to create, aligns teams; Cons: Less detailed, risk of stereotypes

Common Pitfalls

Vague requirements, ignoring context, over-reliance on persona, stakeholder conflict