Customer Communication Activity

In this activity, you will be tasked with eliciting and notating requirements from a customer (a COMPSCI 429 student) for an imaginary product.

Table of Contents

1. Customer Communication Activity
   1. Activity Overview
      1. Grading
   2. Materials & Equipment Needed
      1. Electronic Devices
   3. Phase 1: Asking Questions (10 min)
   4. Phase 2: Encode Requirements (10 min)
   5. Phase 3: Prototype (10 min)
   6. Phase 4: User Test (10 min)
   7. Phase 5: Revise (10 min)
   8. Phase 6: Wrap-Up (Remaining Time)

Activity Overview

You will be divided into groups, and each group will be assigned a 429 student as a customer. Each customer has been given a description of a product. Your group will have the opportunity to ask the customer questions about the product. The customers have been instructed to only directly answer the questions your group asks them, so you will need to be precise in how you phrase your questions.

Grading

Full credit will be awarded for completing the activity as described. This activity is worth 10 points towards your HW/Activity grade.

Materials & Equipment Needed

1. This activity description. Classroom tech permitting, the instructor will show this description on the projector.
2. Pen/pencil and paper for taking notes, writing down requirements, and sketching a prototype.
   • (Optional) You may choose to bring notecards to write down requirements on.

Electronic Devices

No electronic devices are allowed during this activity unless discussed with the instructor ahead of time to accommodate a disability. 429 students may choose to refer to their product description electronically, on paper, or from memory (improvisation is encouraged).

Phase 1: Asking Questions (10 min)

Your group will have 10 minutes to ask your customer questions about their desired product. Group members should take turns asking questions; i.e., everyone should ask one question before anyone asks a second question. The goal in this phase is to obtain information about what product attributes will satisfy the customer. You may want to take notes during this phase, but those notes do not need to follow any particular format.

Phase 2: Encode Requirements (10 min)

Collaboratively write down the product requirements on paper. You may encode the requirements using RFC-style MUST/SHOULD/MAY statements, user stories, or a mix of both.

These requirements will be given to another group, so please make sure they are legible.

Phase 3: Prototype (10 min)

Trade your requirements document with another group. Each student individually should sketch a prototype of the product on paper. The prototype should be drawn in such a way that it can be shown to the customer and the customer can indicate what actions they take.

Phase 4: User Test (10 min)

Choose one of your group's prototypes at random and test it out on the customer whose product it is. While the customer is testing the product, the "driver" should only indicate what the system does in response to each action. If the customer gets stuck in an early stage of use that later stages depend on, the customer may choose to ask for intervention to skip ahead. Group members not driving the test should take notes on the customer's interaction with the prototype.

If you have extra time in this phase, choose another prototype at random and test it out on the customer.

Phase 5: Revise (10 min)

Each student individually should sketch a revised prototype on paper that addresses the issues discovered during the user test.

Phase 6: Wrap-Up (Remaining Time)

Each student should show their revised prototype to their customer and indicate what changes they made. The customer will mark that student as having completed the activity.