Stage 1: Understanding the product requirements and user goals

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In this stage, use user research methods and design outputs to help you identify and prioritize the requirements and goals.

You can use the following types of user research methods to gather information about your users and the product requirements:

interviews and contextual field work (for example, observing users in their own environment, holding question and answer sessions, or conducting ethnographic studies)
workshops with key stakeholders

With the information that you have gathered in your user research, you can create the following design outputs:

end-to-end scenarios (for example, outline what users need from start to finish to meet each of their goals)
major task flows (for example, capture the series of high-level actions that users need to perform to complete tasks associated with each goal)

Consider the following questions:

What problem does your application solve?
What goals do users want to accomplish? For example, if users bid in an online auction, they want to know when someone has outbid them. When articulating goals, try explaining the goal without using terminology that is specific to BlackBerry® devices. For example, use "share photos with friends" instead of "open the Media application and send photos to a group."
What are the top five features or outputs that users need from the application?
How does the mobile context affect user goals?
Are there cultural differences that are important to address? Consider differences by region, language, age, and corporate culture.

Next topic: Stage 2: Developing the concepts and building the workflow

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