Insights captured via Remote Contextual Inquiry (RCI) are not usually obtained during a usability tests and are of great value for all the teams on the software provider side, from development teams to design, marketing or customer support.
RCI is a technique to capture real data, from real users, in their real environment.
When software is implemented and deployed into a given environment, usability issues may arise once end users start hands-on experience, even after training is facilitated or while operating following their self-developed strategies. In these cases, RCI can be used to report relevant user interaction with the current tool state and as a result improve the underlying design. It is done in a real system, a system in use, the "production environment" used by a given community of users.Ā
In a product that can be highly customised, no 2 users are alike, even if their role is the same. For example, in SaaS tools, just the fact that two users don't launch the application using the same browser (version) is a change on the context that shapes their experience. Issues may arise when performed under certain conditions while other scenarios may report positive results.Ā As a matter of fact, real-life usability issues can go undetected when performing usability tests on standard software. RCI can help uncover windows of opportunity to improve design. Remote because it is done by means of screen sharing techniques.
For the next individual project, a great share of research needs to be done directlyĀ āon the fieldā and RCI seems the way to go. It is all about understanding how the final user works and his context. As mentioned above, key factors are:Ā
- 1, being able to observe their activity in their usual environment, making use of their own tools and under their very own working conditions; andĀ
- 2, providing no guidance to complete tasks.Ā
A remote setup where I can observe users operate any SaaS solution could help me understand their pain points and possible improvement areas.
However, it may not be as easy as it sounds.Ā Running RCI research, although cost and time-efficient is an activity that often requires special agreements, since privacy may be an issue (data may be sensitive or user networks may be too restrictive...see private networks and GDPR regulations, to name some evident examples).Ā If such issues are not blockers in the process, RCI allows to enhance the documentation and understanding of how products are being used.
-inspiration: hear below-
(source: https://boxesandarrows.com/remote-contextual-inquiry-a-technique-to-improve-enterprise-software/)Ā
