User Analysis
Identify the characteristics of your user population. If you have multiple user classes, describe each one.
Graduate Student 1 - A student that is far away from the trucks
Bob is a graduate student in CSAIL. Like most graduate students, he is really busy and would like to “get food and get back” as soon as possible. He likes getting lunch from the trucks because it is pretty cheap and good quality. He says that while the Stata cafe is more convenient, he prefers the trucks over “cafeteria food” and thus does not mind the longer walk.
He typically eats at the same truck at the same time. Around 12:30 he heads down and walks over. Generally at this time it is very busy and he has to wait in line. He always brings an umbrella in case it starts to rain. I asked why does he go this early if he knows the line will be long. Bob replied, “many times they run out of the dish that he likes”. I then asked, “do you always get the same thing?” Bob replied, “I know this is good and don’t want to explore. Also, many times the menus are confusing but I don’t want to ask the workers for an explanation because there are many people behind me and I don’t want to keep them waiting.” After getting his food from the Asian food truck he walks back to his office to eat.
Lessons Learned:
- Bob typically walks down at the same time by himself - even though other people in his lab get food from the trucks as well.
- Bob gets the exact same meal from the same truck. He does not explore other places or try new dishes.
- Bob admits that the walk down is inconvenient and would prefer to continue working in his office.
- Once he got his meal, Bob always returns to his office to eat alone.
Graduate Student 2 - A busy graduate student that is nearby the trucks
Alice is a graduate student in the Media Lab. She also likes getting food from the trucks but mostly because it is located near by. She is not very consistent about her eating times. Many times she goes during the peak lunch hours but often times she forgets. She mentioned that many times she is delayed by a meeting and by the time she gets down to the trucks, they have already closed.
She is not bothered too much by the walk, in fact, she kind of likes the “outside time” to clear her head. However, she also admits that it is frustrating when it is cold or raining. She typically eats from the Mexican truck and typically orders the same dish every time. Once she has her meal, she heads back to eat by herself in her office. While she is eating, she often watches part of a show on Hulu or browses Reddit - she does not do work while eating.
Lessons Learned
- Like Bob, many of the people in Alice’s lab also get food from the trucks but they all go by themselves at different times.
- Alice also gets the same meal from the same truck. She does not want to explore.
- Alice also typically eats lunch by herself in her office. It does not seem like she does this because she has a lot of work to get done since she takes a break and watched videos online.
- Unlike Bob, Alice typically does not mind spending the time to walk down to the trucks (because they are close to the Media Lab) but often can’t get there in time due to meetings. During these days she often just skips lunch all together.
Graduate Student 2 - A super crazy busy graduate student who does not get very hungry
Philip Fry is a really busy graduate student in the Media Lab. He typically just brings a snack (an energy bar) from home for “lunch”. He generally does not eat lunch and instead works straight through. I asked him if he ever getting hungry and he said, “Yes, but I really don’t want to waste time going down and waiting in line to get food.” However most of the time he does not get hungry enough for a full meal but would like a small snack like french fries.
Lessons Learned
- Some people are not looking for a full meal, but just a snack.
- Philip would not mind getting or paying for food, he just does not want to go through the hassle of walking down and getting it himself.
Professor
Professor Farnsworth is a faculty member at the Media Lab. He typically has many meetings and phone calls that he takes at home and arrives at the Media Lab around noon. When he arrives he often grabs a bite to eat before heading into his office.
Farnsworth always gets his lunch from Clover. At the time he arrives the lines are typically not that bad so he does not mind waiting. He also bikes to work so even the cold or rain doesn’t really bother him too much - he just spent 15 minutes biking through the rain, an additional 5 isn’t a big deal.
However, many times Farnsworth has back to back meetings and is unable to go to the trucks. As a result he often skips lunch and gets something later in the day. Additionally, he often has lunch meetings. He generally has two options. He sometimes asks his admin to arrange for food to be delivered (from places other than the trucks) and other times takes the person he is meeting with down the to trucks. However this requires both of them to wait in line which is not the most efficient use of time. Additionally, the person he is meeting with does not always know what is good so he just asks Farnsworth to “get two of the same thing”. Once they get food, they typically have lunch together in the Media Lab cafeteria.
Lessons Learned:
- For some people, getting to the trucks is really easy and part of their everyday routine
- While picking up the food is convenient, walking back and forth would have been really troublesome for Farnsworth because of his busy schedule.
- Ordering for multiple people, especially those who have not eaten at the trucks before, can be difficult.
- Once again, Farnsworth always gets the same thing from the same place. Additionally, he often misses the time window for ordering food and skips lunch because he was unable to walk down and pick up his meal.
Group of Students - students who meet twice a week during lunch to do class work
Amanda, Eva and Andy are a group of CDO students who usually meet more than once a week for at least 3 hours to work on problem sets. They work from building 35 which is at least 15 minute walk to the trucks. All of them like the food trucks and usually order from there when they’re not together. But when they meet as a group, time is very valuable because they rarely find time that works for them all. For lunch, they think it is more cost effective and time saving to order pizza for delivery.
Lessons Learned:
- For some people, time is very valuable and they prefer spending it on important things
- For lunch, some busy groups prefer ordering for delivery even if it means paying more
Task Analysis
Determine the tasks of the problem you've chosen, analyze their characteristics, and answer the general questions about tasks we asked in lecture. Think about other questions you should ask that might be relevant to your particular domain. You should find and analyze at least 3 high-level tasks. If you can't find 3 interesting tasks, then your problem may be too small to serve as a good project, and you should rethink it.
Figuring out what you want to eat
- Why is the task being done?
- The person is hungry and wants to eat
- Where is the task performed?
- Usually on campus, in the person’s lab/office
- How often is the task performed?
- Once every weekday if the person is on campus during lunch
- Who else is involved in the task?
- Classmates, colleagues
- What can go wrong?
- The person might not find the dish they are looking for
Placing an individual order
- Why is the task being done?
- The person has decided where and what to eat, the only thing left is to order it
- Where is the task performed?
- Usually on campus, in the person’s lab/office
- How often is the task performed?
- Once every weekday if the person is on campus during lunch
- Who else is involved in the task?
- No one else, since its an individual order
- What can go wrong?
- The person orders a dish but later finds out that the truck is out of it
Placing an order for multiple people
- Why is the task being done?
- A group has decided what and where to eat from, the only thing left is to order the food
- Where is the task performed?
- Usually on campus, in the person’s lab/office
- How often is the task performed?
- At most once every weekday if the group is in one place on campus during lunch
- Who else is involved in the task?
- All individuals who are ordering food
- What can go wrong?
- The individuals involved want to order from different places
Picking up the food
- Why is the task being done?
- Food has been ordered from the truck that needs pick up
- Where is the task performed?
- In the truck area
- How often is the task performed?
- Once after placing an order
- Who else is involved in the task?
- All individuals who requested food in the same order
- What can go wrong?
- The truck might be out of certain dishes
- The food plates are are too large for one person to carry
- Food picked up might not match the ones ordered due to a mixup