Week 1: Thinking in systems

Key Questions for Systems Development? Challenge:

 

Requirements:

Future Unknown,

Stability,

Linking Ideas,

Design Ideas links,

Target audience?

 

Security:

Underlying process

Methods to verify,

Less bugs

What is best (tech process)

Scope Creep,

UAT (User Assessment Testing)

Maintenance,

Management Methods 

 

Affordable:

Constraints

Design complexity

User friendly

Tech aspects.

 

Marketing – get it out there.

Launch – rollout

 

Implementation

 

What is a system?

 

System is a systematic overview. It is repetitive and rigid. It places order to the daily life in a way, which is essentially supposed to enhance the quality of life. 

 

Durability,

Power,

Easy to use/understand.

 

Product:

High-quality.

Strength

 

Intrinsically safe and usable.

 

 

The Avalanche [Case]

From Bill Buxton's "Sketching User Experiences" (Buxton, 2007)

 

In this case study, Saul Greenberg, his wife along with three friends went skiing in the high mountainous terrain of Canmore and Kananaskis Country, Alberta, Canada. This case study is an exmple of a product which is in the wild where it is most necessary. When a devestating avalanch fell before the group, the three skiers in the middle of their path were caught in the avalance where one was burided in the snow up to the shoulders whereas the other was simply knocked down. The turning point was when Soul went missing and his friends and wife had to, ideally, follow safety protocol and use the transmitter to locate and rescue Saul.

 

"If an avalanche occurs:

1. Retain one lookout (you may be hit by another avalanche). 

2. Triage; rescue the most able first (and they may be able to assist later). 

3. Go to the approximate location of buried victims, judge if carried onwards, then guide using transceiver. 

4. Use an avalanche probe to locate the body. 

5. When the victim is felt you start to dig and dig." (1)

 

However, that protocol was not followed and the question then became: After the 'who'; what saved Saul?

My answer to that question would be that Saul saved himself with his presence of mind and quick thinking along with the use of the transmitter. techonology alone isn't sufficient in the real world, proper guidance and thorough tutorials on the proper use of that very techonology is equally essential. What would would a product or design be when the common users don't know how it functions. In sertain situations, such as this case study, the diffence would that of life and death. 

 

 

References: (1) http://managingdesignanddevelopment.blogspot.ie/2011/09/avalanche-case.html