Interviewing Counselors About Technology Needs

What's the Point?

This is an exercise in interviewing users about their needs. While users can identify some needs they may have, they may be so accustomed to the way that they do their work that that can't envision how technology might ease or enrich their work.

How's It Done?

Work in groups if possible. Each group represents a company in the following scenario.

You work for a company that has been hired by a foundation to develop technology to aid the work life of counselors. The foundation's mission is

• To enable all people to thrive through empowering education and caring counselors, and supportive community

The foundation directors lament the lack of systematic support in the U.S. for individuals with physical, emotional, and mental needs, and would like to empower our society's counseling system with technology.

They have asked your firm to explore three initial areas of counseling:

1. Mental Health counseling in a college setting, where students have access to counselors as needed
2. Financial Counseling, in which financial planners help people understand pension planning and complex financial decisions
3. Places of worship, in which pastors, rabbis, or specially chosen congregation members offer counseling and support

You Do It!

You have three potential users available to you for Q&A. They are TBD.

Each of them will talk briefly about the counseling they do in their jobs, and then open for questions.

Your job is to ask them questions that will help you create an idea for a way to aid their work with technology of any form.

After Q&A, you'll have some time to brainstorm as a team. Then each group will have an opportunity to present a couple ideas to the counselors for their feedback.

(There is no right answer. The point of this is the process.)

If you're off-campus, propose your system ideas briefly (much like the on-campus students are) on this wiki page , and Stephen will try to get feedback from the counselors on them.

Explain It!

After you do this activity, reflect on the experience you had learning about their work.

• Did anything surprise you along the way?
• If you were really in the company scenario, what would the next steps be?
• In the scenario, who else would you need to talk to in order to design a good system?
• Did you have any insights about the process of soliciting user needs that you can apply to your System Design project?

NOTE: Your activity post does NOT need to include your ideas for technology. It's a reflection on the experience of interviewing.

Now Think Again

Why do you think systems like the potential ones that we discussed today don't exist already?

• REUHCI_tasks_requirements.ppt: REUHCI_tasks_requirements.ppt