Rapid Contextual Design

Description

This handbook introduces Rapid CD, a fast-paced, adaptive form of Contextual Design. It's a hands-on guide for anyone who needs practical guidance on how to use the Contextual Design process, and how to adapt it to tactical projects with tight timelines. Rapid Contextual Design provides detailed suggestions on structuring the project and customer interviews, conducting interviews, and running interpretation sessions. The handbook also walks you step-by-step through the consolidation process, along with visioning, storyboarding, and paper prototype interviewing.

Throughout the handbook are actual examples from real projects run by InContext clients. Each chapter includes Tips, Do's and Don'ts, as well as guidance on what to think about and watch out for while running your project. The handbook also addresses how to fit the Contextual Design process into existing product development processes like RUP and XP and how to use Contextual Design data to create personas.

CDTools documentation and usage guidance is included in the handbook. CDTools is InContext's commercially available software application designed specifically to support customer-centered design. Throughout this handbook, you'll find instructions for using CDTools for tracking interviewed users, capturing interpretation sessions notes, putting your Affinity diagram online, and publishing your Affinity to a browser for sharing with others.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Planning Your Rapid CD Project
Chapter 3: Planning Your Interviews
Chapter 4: The Contextual Inquiry Interview
Chapter 5: Contectual Interview Interpretation Session
Chapter 6: Working Model
Chapter 7: Building the Affinity
Chapter 8: Consolidating Sequences
Chapter 9: Walking the Data
Chapter 10: Visioning the New Design
Chapter 11: Building Personas
Chapter 12: Storyboarding
Chapter 13: Testing with Paper Prototypes
Chapter 14: Paper Prototype Interviews
Chapter 15: Issues of Organizational Adoption
Related Readings
Appendix 1: Supply Checklist