Scenarios and Design Cognition

Thursday, September 12^th from 9⁰⁰ - 10³⁰

Scenario-based design is a family of techniques in which the use of a future system is concretely described at an early point in the development process. Narrative descriptions of envisioned usage episodes are then employed in a variety of ways to guide the development of the system. Scenario-based design changes the focus of design work from defining system operations to describing how people will use a system to accomplish work tasks and other activities.

Scenario-based practices now span most of the software development lifecycle: Requirements development and analysis, envisionment and design development, user interface design and prototyping, software development and implementation, documentation and training development, formative and summative evaluation.

The pervasive use of scenarios in the development of computer systems and software can be understood in terms of design cognition: Scenarios support and enhance the solution-first strategy, typical of expert problem-solving in planning and design. They evoke reflection and inquiry in design, facilitate suspension of commitment, promote work-orientation, and encourage multifaceted brainstorming and development.

This analysis helps to set a research agenda for better understanding circumstances under which scenarios may be more and less effective in design, contrasts among various different types of scenario-like objects, organizational accommodations that are required for adopting, developing and supporting scenario-based design practices, and the relationship of scenario-based methods to new and established design concepts and techniques.

John M. Carroll is Professor of Computer Science, Education, and Psychology, and Director of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction all at Virginia Tech. His research is in methods and theory for human-computer interaction, particularly as applied to tools for collaborative learning and problem solving. His books include Making use (MIT Press, 2000), HCI in the New Millennium (Addison-Wesley, 2002), and Usability Engineering (Morgan-Kaufman, 2002). He received the Rigo Award from ACM, the Silver Core Award from IFIP, and was elected to the CHI Academy.

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