5 things you can do on a site visit, other than watching tasks

Published: January 9, 2008, 5:43 pm

Tags: ethnography, site visits, observation

Site visits (aka Contextual Inquiry) are an amazingly rich source for customer understanding. We typically go on site visits when we are trying to understand how people are accomplishing tasks now (whether it is with our software or something else), what their main pain-points are in a given area, opportunities for innovation, inspiration, and to gain a better understanding of our customers. Certainly, the best interactions with participants are when they show us their processes and talk about their issues. However, there are times when it can be difficult to get customers to give us those rich experiences. For example, sometimes participants don't think their process is important or interesting. Here are a few techniques to try that can kick start richer conversations and a deeper understanding of the people you visit:Desk surface Inventory - Where does your participant use their computer? Do they have a desk? If so, take a look at the surface of the desk. What is there?

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