Prototype Testing - Derek's Walkthrough

Here are the results from our prototype walkthrough with Derek, based on general points mentioned and performance during the scenarios given.

General Points

• Derek liked the concept of the watch, as he could just leave it alone, and it was inconspicuous. However, he wasn't so sure about his location being monitored all the time.
  
• As with Maureen, Derek had trouble using the small stylus, and almost lost it through dropping it.
• Derek was very cautious with using the technology, and always read through the contextual instructions. He also explained to us that he normally wouldn't bother trying to use something like this, but was giving it a go as his feedback could make the system better.
  

Inputting and Logging Weight Information

• Derek read through the instructions very carefully, and would always ask us before he did anything. We urged him to try not to ask us and just do what he thought was correct.
• Derek didn't own any scales, and hadn't weighed himself in a long time (he claims he has been the same weight for many years), so we asked him to add any weight in.
• Some of the writing was too small for Derek to read, but he had figured from the help how to zoom in and out. However, it was not as obvious that the scroll bars needed to be used to move the view around, and he thought you had to zoom back out and zoom in on a different part.
• "Does this thing not trust me?" Derek felt that there were too many confirmation and notification stages.
• Derek was also confused by some of the terms, such as "info" and "main menu". It was not clear to him what these meant.
  

Viewing Weight Information

• "Choose what from list?" It wasn't obvious to Derek that the "Choose from list" button let you choose a type of information.
  
• Derek slowly managed to complete this task. Unlike other personas, he was also very careful not to press buttons by mistake, and wrote in capital letters.
  

Access Messages and View an Unread Message

• "Who are these messages from?" As with Fiona, Derek noticed that there is no indication of the sender of the message.
  

Modify the Date and Time

• It took a while for Derek to find the appropriate place to change the date and time. Firstly, he was confused by the use of "Settings", and then "Edit".
• As with the other personas, Derek wasn't sure that he had successfully performed the task. He thought he hadn't, and decided he wanted to go back to the beginning and start again. However, there was no clear way of going straight back to the main menu (i.e. skipping any intermediary menus).
  

Set off the Watch Alarm

• Derek has read the instructions carefully, and so set off the alarm on the first attempt.
  
• At one point during another task, Derek rested his arm on a table, and set the watch alarm off by accident. This put him off wanting to wear it, as the accidental setting off of the alarm would be bad for his heart.
  

Make an Emergency Call Using the Watch

• As with the other personas, Derek was confused as to whether the call was being made or not. This lead him to press the button repeatedly, which in turn repeatedly made and stopped calls.
  

Send Previously Saved Information to the GP

• Derek remembered that there was an option to send at the end of the "Add Info" task, but he knew that he didn't want to add information again. He eventually found the right section through trial-and-error.
  

Turn On/Off Home Security

• We explained to Derek that the security was an optional feature, and would require installation of devices into his home. This put him off the idea, and he didn't want to bother with learning how to do the security.
  

Evaluation

Derek is an example of someone who would require some learning before using the device. I was very hard for him to fathom things initially, as he has such little experience with similar devices. A particular area of difficulty was with words that seemed very tevhnical and lacked meaning to him. However, he was more comfortable using the watch, which is the most important part of the system in terms of the life-saving aspect. Some new potential improvements based on this walkthrough are:

• Try to remove the use of technical terms or terms which have become familiar through use of technology (e.g. "settings", "main menu", etc).
• Make the functions on the watch harder to activate by accident.
• Improve the stylus design, and make it permanently attached to the input device to prevent it from being lost.
• Ensure there are buttons on every page allowing the user to return to the main menu, and distinguish these from regular back buttons.