Users, tasks and context: the three things you must know

Check yourself · 6 questions · pass at 70%

1. 01

   'Nurses need to record patient vitals.' What's missing from this as a basis for design?

   • The context — the conditions the task happens under
   • The user — 'nurses' is too broad a category
   • The task — 'record vitals' needs more detail
   • Nothing; user and task are sufficient to begin
2. 02

   Why is designing in ideal conditions a specific hazard?

   • You ship into conditions that share none of them, and the gap is invisible from your desk
   • Ideal conditions make the design look worse than it is
   • It slows the design process down
   • It causes designers to over-test on real devices
3. 03

   Which is a properly formed context-of-use statement?

   • A field technician needs to log a repair while wearing gloves in poor light, so the design must have touch targets usable without fine motor precision
   • Users need to log repairs quickly and easily, so the design must be simple and intuitive
   • Field technicians are our primary user group for the repair flow
   • The repair logging flow must be redesigned to improve completion rates
4. 04

   Why is emotional state part of context?

   • It changes how a design is received — a cheerful tone can read as mockery to a distressed user
   • It determines which device the user chooses
   • It's a nice-to-have consideration once usability is solved
   • It only matters for healthcare and finance products
5. 05

   Why is your stakeholder's mental model often as unrepresentative as your own?

   • They've stared at the product for years and can no longer see it fresh
   • They rarely use computers
   • They don't understand design principles
   • They're focused only on business metrics
6. 06

   You write one context-of-use statement that covers every user group. What does this suggest?

   • It's probably too general to constrain any design decision
   • You've correctly identified a unified user need
   • The product has a well-focused audience
   • The statement should be shortened further

Revision · 8 cards

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