Prototype Photos
Briefing
BucketList is a shared task-management application, allowing users to easily create group to-do lists.
Once you have an account, you can create "buckets" - categories to put your tasks in. You can then add tasks to your existing buckets. This application is different than most task-management applications you've probably used in the past, because you can also share buckets with your friends. So, for example, you might create a GR3 bucket, which you will share with the rest of your group. You can then assign each person in the group individual tasks, like "write briefing" or "finish paper prototypes", and monitor your progress, as a group, towards completing the project. Finally, you can write an share notes about each task, to make sure you're all on the same page.
Hopefully, this will all be clear as you use the paper prototype. Do you have any questions before we start?
Scenario Tasks
You're a student in 6.813, and your group decided to switch the focus of your project, so you have to redo GR1. You were also just assigned GR2. And in your busy schedule, you somehow also just got a UROP.
Task 1 - Add note to GR1, reminding your group to update the wiki.
Task 2 - Remove Bayo's note from the bulletin, then place your new note in the center.
Task 3 - You've completed GR1! Now add a task called GR2 to your 6.813 bucket, and add the appropriate collaborators.
Task 4 - Add a UROP bucket.
Observations
The following describe our observations, based on the user testing we did. The observations have been grouped by category, describing problems found with the interface. For each category, the aspect of usability it hinders is noted, and the issue is given a score from 1-5 with respect to complexity (1 meaning easy to fix, 5 meaning difficult problem to address) and UI severity (1 meaning somewhat insignificant, 5 meaning very problematic).
Labeled Buttons
Issue: learnability
Complexity: 1
UI Severity: 5
In the first iteration of our design, a lot of tasks were designed to be accomplished with drag-and-drop interaction, such as rearranging notes on the board, or moving notes from the "all notes" section to the board. The problem was, this interaction was not immediately obvious to users. One user couldn't figure out how to move a note to the bulletin board because there was no clearly labeled button to do so. Another user continued repeating "I'm looking for a button to..." for almost all tasks, both during tasks that had buttons on screen (which she found) and during tasks without buttons (she eventually gave up, and figured out other ways to do it). A third user commented, after the test, that while drag-and-drop is often convenient, clearly labeled buttons would help users learn how to do tasks more quickly. After adding a couple of clearly labeled buttons, this problem was eliminated.
Bucket vs. Task View
Issue: Visibility
Complexity: 1
UI Severity: 1
Because the screen remains pretty similar when in task view or bucket view, one user commented that it wasn't clear she was viewing a task (she thought it might be an entire bucket). Most users, however, did not have a problem with this. To fix this, we will add a symbol (picture of a bucket) to indicate when the user is viewing a bucket. We will also list the tasks in the bucket in a more predominate location.
Unclear Icons
Issue: Visibility, Learnability
Complexity: 1
UI Severity: 4
A couple of users were confused by the icons we used. We had images to represent whether or not a note was currently on the bulletin board and whether a user could edit the note. Users were confused as to what the "sticky" icon meant, many assuming it meant the opposite of what it was intended to indicate. In addition, clicking on these images was supposed to either place the note on the board or change into edit mode, which was not clear to the users and many users never even attempted this.
Inability to Type on Stickies
Issue: Efficiency, Learnability, Visibility
Complexity: 3
UI Severity: 2
One user was annoyed that she could not type on the sticky notes, only in the "all notes" section at the bottom. This makes the interface less learnable for her, as her initial thought was to type on the note (even though it wasn't a typing curser). In addition, if the user is looking at the bulletin board, it is much easier and more efficient to begin typing on the note, instead of navigating to the bottom to add the note. To fix this, we will allow for users to type on the stickies or in the "all notes" section, as was introduced in the
Redundancy of Bulletin Board
Issue: Efficiency, Learnability, Visibility
Complexity: 4
UI Severity: 4
Many users commented that the bulletin board and the list of