Contextual Enquiry Kit - what I take on site

This post was triggered by recently participating as a user in a contextual interview. I was surprised to find the interviewer was using a DSLR on a tripod to capture their detailed photos and video. I found this contrasted with the minimalist kit approach that evolved really early in my career as a usability guy.

So what do I carry?

This is what I carry.

Flip-top notepad. Camera. Reliable Pen. Spare Pen. Decent voice recorder. Highlighter. iPhone. Business cards. KISS.

My Contextual Enquiry Kit. Keeping it lightweight.

Everything I can have in my hand and pockets. I can carry objects and documents given to me by participants. In general, I find the informal appearance of my kit supports getting "better" context during interviews and observations. Since my footprint is smaller, I'm less likely to influence the way people are doing their thing either through being physically in the way or by making people self-conscious. I can keep track of everything I've brought on site, and can be sure I've got everything when I leave. Since I have less of my own kit to worry about I am able to focus on why I am there - to observe, listen to and understand our users.

Here's some details about my specific kit decisions for those who are interested.

Notepad
Spiral at the top means it stays out of they way while I write. It's a shorthand size, which I find is the best compromise between compact and usable area. It's big enough that you can use it as quasi-whiteboard for discussion during an interview, but not too big to be awkward while writing standing up. It doesn't surprise me that it's similar to what journalists (used to?) use - probably the same needs lead to the same evolved features.

Pocket Camera
While sometimes you aren't allowed to take photos on some sites, in general I found that I'm allowed to, and so I take lots of photos. Pocket cameras take great photos and now take great video too so there's no need to take a separate video camera. Video is great for capturing a dynamic activity, or for recording a user talk through a site tour or how some activity or action gets done, but I mostly take photos. The key features that decide my camera choice are: compact for a pocket, good wide-angle lens (for my S90 in the photo, it's a 28mm equivalent) and then good performance under low-light situations (again the S90 has an F2.0 aperture and good low-light performance). Battery life, easy downloading of the photos (I prefer to use a Sandisk SD Plus card by choice - why did they stop making these???), and ruggedness are some other considerations.

Pen
Simply that - a pen. An obscure requirement I have is that it should be able to write on my hand because I do that.

Spare Pen
'nough said.

Voice Recorder
A good quality voice recorder is really important. By voice recorder, I mean an audio recorder that records voice really well. That means noise cancellation is important. The real test is can you leave it on the table while having a discussion and capture everything said? A good UI is important. The test for this is can you start and stop it without looking at it or being distracted by it? Touchscreen or otherwise fiddly controls don't really cut it for me.

Highlighter
This is really for the cab ride back to work. I find highlighting and making notes about the site just completed not only benefits from everything being fresh in my mind, but also saves me time when I get back to the office.

iPhone
Mostly as a phone, but also as a map to get there. I don't really use it to take photos, record voice, etc etc. I find the dedicated tools make much more sense.

Business Cards
A standard yes, but I find it serves two key purposes. Firstly, it gives an official introduction to someone who might only know the company you are from and not you. Also, it means I can leave contact details for a participant to contact me later with more information - I've found this follow-up really useful if an interviewee is chasing some information down for me, or they have thought more about some detail from an interview and want to give more information.

--

Well, that's about it this time. I'm surprised how much I had in my earlier draft of this post covering a range of things about field studies and contextual enquiry. I'll have to cover that some other time. I'm also wondering how different my kit and my approach is from other people in the industry.

POPTP - Photos of People Taking Photos

The Opera House is a great place to spend a sunny Winter's day in Sydney. It's an even better place for finding a whole bunch of people taking photos.

Locked away in an office building doing R&D, you can need a top-up on who your users are and how they use your product. So a couple of Sundays ago I went with a work colleague and a couple of friends down to the Opera House to watch people taking photos. Got some photos of people taking photos.

In planning this little excursion, I expected a bit of a top-up about what people are doing with cameras. As much as anything, I expected one of my pet camera re-design ideas to be confirmed. Though after only 40 minutes of sitting in the sun I found I wasn't thinking about those ideas I brought with me anymore... it was the brand new conclusions I was now making about how and why people were using their cameras because of what I was seeing right in front of me!



Now a bit about the photo. Since all of this was on a day off, and wasn't an officially work sponsored event, our debrief was a little more relaxed than normal. Someone out there might recognise the coffee table from Wine Odyssey in The Rocks, Sydney. By the way, that's Kevin & Vera's iPad tethered to their Canon 5D MkII. Looks like a great niche use for a tablet. It made me head past the Sydney Apple Store on the way home. Only because the Apple Store closes early on Sunday was I saved from that impulse buy which gave me time to really think: is downloading photos from your Canon DSLR really the Killer app for the iPad?

This Thing Called Usability

User Experience. Customer Experience. Product Design. Experiential Design. Human Factors.

There's a whole lot that can be discussed about this thing called Usability - even if it's the name itself.

I think the job is a bit art, a bit science, a bit engineering and a whole lot of creativity. It gets even more interesting when you're doing usability for products that don't exist yet.

What is this thing called usability?

One day I might look back on these notes and maybe that will give the answer.