An analysis of the old system by following or shadowing user activity. This could be watching the employees and how they use the system. It is easier to identify where the system can interfere with the person trying to use it.
Seeking feedback and comments from the people who use the system in the form of surveys and reviews to understand their needs. Great for receiving a large response with minimal effort, but harder to get a detailed answer due to the lack of depth of a survey.
Sit down with the users and discuss their concerns. Unlike a questionnaire, follow-up questions can be asked/personalised to gain a deeper understanding. However, can be resourceful to schedule and allocate time to interview a diverse group of people.
Like observation, but instead monitoring the existing documentation for the system, and looking at the strengths and weaknesses on paper. Can be more difficult to understand how it performs in the real world, as flaws may not be easy to identify from the design.
Due to the smaller nature of DigitalWave’s business, Interviews would be the most appropriate data gathering technique.
The project manager should select a few managers and employees across all stores. They could use tools like Zoom or Microsoft Teams to schedule and meet with them without having to travel to the different stores.
This would provide a deeper understanding of the system and how it performs, with feedback from the direct users. As the point of the system is to improve the efficiency of DigitalWave’s internal system, it is important for the actual users to voice their concerns and feel involved in the process, something which cannot be achieved through questionnaires or sample forms. Observation would also be difficult to follow users activity when stores are located across Australia.
Jordan Rodrigues • 2023