Research proposal and planned SOW for Usability design research

1. Studio Cognitix
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2016
©
All Rights Received
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8034660
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54
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+972
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Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
AgroPlan
Research & Project Scope
Executive Summary:
Product Brief
AgroPlan is a monitoring system for farmers that help them keep track of vital parameters in their
soil, and react to changes accordingly. The product is aimed to help users make informed decisions
about their farming activities, in a manner which will increase productivity. They can plan their
season by comparing “what-if” scenarios to optimize their product and profit.
Project Description
In the interest of creating an excellent user experience for our service, we have launched a major
design program, creating the service from top to bottom with an eye on the needs of, and input
from, our users.
The design will be done in a series of phases. Each phase will involve the reexamination of the
current product and a refinement of the product vision for the next design. User experience
research will be a major component of each phase, and each phase will contain a major research
project that will be appropriate for the goals of that phase.

2. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
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54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Project Phases
 Defining business goals
 Defining product requirements
 Target Audience Analysis (Described in section B)
 User research (Described in section A)
 Creating personas (Described in section B)
 Prioritizing features
 Discussing and documenting user tasks and optimal flows (Described in section C)
 Conceptual Mapping
 Sketching
 Wireframing of main screens
 User testing & Presenting test results (Described in section D)
 Fixing usability bugs
 Developing a graphic concept (including brand guidelines)
 Producing a Style Guide
 Creating a high fidelity mockup for all screens
 User testing & Presenting test results (Described in section D)
 Fixing usability bugs
 Detailed graphic design for all screens

3. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
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54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Project Scope
Overview
This Research & Project Scope document will provide the plan for the product's user research. It
will describe other phases in the project as well, assuming they are closely related to the research
findings.
Business Goals
 Increasing farm productivity and revenue
 Supporting user decisions based on accurate information
 Creating the best actionable recommendations, according to multiple innovative
information channels
 Automation of farming activity
 Helping farmers manage their farming activities in a reliable fashion
 Helping people on the farming industry to document and analyze their farming activities
 Preventing water waste and undesired irrigation costs
 Creating brand awareness
 Selling more AgroPlan licenses

4. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
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54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Technological Assumptions
 The sensor can evaluate the growth of roots by using mineral and moisture data, combined
with predefined data on the plant variety
 The system is connected to an automatic handless irrigation system
 The irrigation system reacts according to signal from the system
 The sensors will have two modes regarding irrigation schedule:
o Ability to make changes on an "Auto Pilot" mode
o Send recommendations to the user, and act under their approval – "Semi-
Automatic" mode
 Incoming and outgoing information exchange will be done through a main server
 The main server will perform the weather updates using an external service API
 A sensor samples the ground every 20 minutes and sends the data to the main server
 The server will store the data, analyze it and raise the appropriate response
 The sensor range is optimal at 500 m²
 It is recommended to have more than one sensor in the field

5. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
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54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Section A: Pre-Design Research Plan
Research Questions
 What platform or platforms will be best for this system?
 How does a farmers act in order to increase their revenue? What data do they need? What
are the actions they take after reviewing the data? What is the time frame for changes to
take effect?
 How do they decide on when to change irrigation schedules/minerals supplements/type of
plant to use? What data will they need to make them feel confident with their decision?
How these action are being done on the farm? Who does the job on the field? How do they
keep track of things after the change?
 What is the technological level of the users? How much they want to feel "in control"?
 What are the most troubling pain points in managing a farm? How can our product help
users with their tasks?
 How does the farmers document and analyze their farming activities?
 What are the common ways to prevent water waste? Are there
governmental/Environmental issues?
 What is the best price model for this product? Do users like to own things? How will they
respond to the idea of an annual/monthly license?
Research Procedure
The research will be done in three parts:
 Subject Matter Expert (SME) interviews
 Quantitative research – Market survey
 Qualitative research – Field Observation
Subject Matter Expert (SME) interviews
One to one interviews with experts in farming. There are many general questions about the
agriculture world we don’t know how to answer. An interview with an expert will give us a clue on
the way farmers act in order to increase their revenue. This is a good opportunity to ask what data
do they need, and many high level question related to monitoring and analyzing the crops.

6. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
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8034660
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54
-
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Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Market survey
This will inform the market segmentations about the customers of this kind of product. The data
will help us build more reliable personas. It will give us a lead about users' basic needs and
demographic characteristics. Survey analysis will give us quantitative information about frequency
of use, technological awareness, number of fields per farm, average size of a farm etc.
Field Observation
Research staff will go out to a Field Visit (Ethnographic interviewing) in the users' workplace. This
procedure will involve watching the users perform some of their tasks and interviewing them
where the interaction takes place. This is important to map their flow of work and uncover
breakpoints, workarounds, and opportunities for design improvements. It will be an important
addition to the quantitative research, since it can reveal real users' goals and motivations.
Conclusions & Recommendations Presentation
An important key to a successful product is the transfer of knowledge from the user research staff
to the production staff. The UX researcher will make a formal report describing the details of each
phase, and most importantly, its findings. Following the creation of that report, the team will have
a meeting in which the UX researcher will present the major findings, and discuses optional design
solutions for the next stages.

7. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
-
54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Section B: Target Audience Analysis
Target Audience
Note: This is just an initial assumption about the product users. We recommend a meeting with
product stakeholders to define this matter thoroughly.
 18-75
 Make a living from farming or the farming industry
 Use the product to optimize farming activity
Personas
Note: This is just an initial draft for the users' personas. A more detailed description and fine tuning
will be done after the initial user research. The current personas will be used to find better recruits
for the research, and to start designing the product's approach.
Ling
Josef Avi
Age: 64
Martial Status: D + 2
Job description:
Agronomic Advisor
 History of the
crops
Age: 45
Martial Status: M + 4
Job description:
Farm Manger
 Check status once
in a while
Age: 29
Martial Status: M + 2
Job description:
Farm Worker
 Gets all messages
about irrigation
 Recommendations
for the future
 Knows a lot about
plant varieties
 Knows a lot about
minerals
 Will do most of
the manual work if
necessary
 Not tech savvy
 Not always on site
 Can deal with
complex data
 Used of doing
things with pen
and paper

8. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
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54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Section C: Task & workflow analysis
Note: This is just an initial draft. A more accurate description and fine tuning will be done after the
initial user research. For now, we assume the service platforms will be Mobile and PC. The mobile
application will be used for more day to day needs like monitoring and managing the farm, while
the desktop version will allow the user to delve deep into data and plan future schedules.
Major user goals
 Monitoring and managing the farm
 Plan future activities
Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA)
Users’ interactions with a product consist of actions often referred to as tasks. One of the ways to
describe the research results is by performing Task Analysis. The most common analysis used is
hierarchical task analysis (HTA), where a hierarchy of tasks and subtasks represents the task
structure. An example of a possible HTA can be found in Appendix A.

9. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
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54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
User flows
Personal
setup
Monitoring and managing the farm
View crops
status
Make
adjustments
Start here Start here
Exit here Exit here Exit here
Plan future activities
View crops
status
View crops
History
Comparing
“what-if”
scenarios
Define/
Update
season plan
Start here
Start here Start here
Exit here Exit here Exit here Exit here
Start here

10. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
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54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Section D: Design Validation –
Usability Test
Research Questions
 Do users understand what does the product do? Do they understand the main functions?
 Are they seeing and understanding the data they need?
 Are they able to take actions they need after reviewing the data? Is there a good feedback
for changes?
 Does the design help them to change irrigation schedules/minerals supplements/plant
variety type?
 What is the users' response to the current level of complexity/Data visualization?
 Does this design help users with their tasks?
 Can this design help them document and analyze their farming activities?
 How does the user respond to different visual languages (in branding terms)?
Research Procedure
 Recruiting candidates. It is important that candidates will fit designated user profiles
(Personas)
 Performing the first usability test session (in a usability lab). This will be done on a basic
wireframe and will answer large scale questions like: "Does the user understand the
functionality and information architecture"? (An example of a possible usability test
protocol can be found in Appendix B)
 Gathering test results and analyzing the data
 Performing the second usability test session (in a usability lab). This will be done on a high
fidelity mockup will answer low-res questions like: "Does the user understand the data
visualization and graphs"? This would be an opportunity to show users two different design
alternatives and see how they react to each one.
 Gathering test results and analyzing the data

11. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
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54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Conclusions & Recommendations Presentation
An important key to a successful product is the transfer of knowledge from the user research staff
to the production staff. The UX researcher will make a formal report describing the details of the
research, and most importantly, its findings. Following the creation of that report, the team will
have a meeting in which the UX researcher will present the major findings, and discuses optional
design solutions for the next stages.

12. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
|
8034660
-
54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Appendix A: HTA
Monitor & Manage
Farm
Setup Personal
Profile
Setup Farm Profile Respond
Check Farm Status
Connect to Server Input Crop Details
PC
PC
Check weather
Check sensors Check Crops
Select Field Review Field
Get
Recommendations
Change Irrigation
Settings
Order Mineral
Supplement
Call Service
Monitor & Manage
Farm
Load Personal
Profile
Setup Respond
Check Farm Status
Connect to Server Check weather
Check sensors Check Crops
Select Field Review Field
Get
Recommendations
Change Irrigation
Settings
Order Mineral
Supplement
Call Service
Mobile
Mobile

13. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
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8034660
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Aviv, Israel, 6334605
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Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Plan Future
Activities
Evaluate “what-if”
scenarios
View Crops History
Define/Update
Season Plan
Check Farm Status
Search Data Filter Data
PC
PC
Check weather
Check sensors Check Crops
Select Field Review Field
Get
Recommendations
Define/Update Print Share
View & Analyze Set Goals Change Parameters
View & Compare
Results
Get
Recommendations

14. Studio Cognitix
|
2016
©
All Rights Received
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8034660
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54
-
+972
|
Aviv, Israel, 6334605
-
Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Appendix B: Usability Test -
Experiment protocol
Before the test begins
 Arrive 5 to 10 minutes before the session. Turn on computer and get forms ready for tester
arrival. The required form is the Informed consent form.
 Open up the wireframe/prototype browser window (or whatever platform needed), ensure
that no user is logged in and clear the history.
 When the tester arrives, present yourself and try to have a nice informal chat with them
Informed consent
 After "breaking the ice" with the tester, read the following:
"Our product is a monitoring system for farmers that help them keep track of vital
parameters in their soil, and react to changes accordingly. What you are about to see is the
initial design of the product in terms of user interface. I'm looking at how well this interface
performs. The video and sound recorders are for analyses use after the test. Try to ignore
them as much as possible. During the test you will be given different tasks to perform with
the interface. I'd appreciate it if you could tell me what you're thinking while you’re doing
the tasks".
"Ok, could I ask you to take a look at the consent form. It basically outlines that there’s no
benefit for you taking part in this study, but equally there’s no risk. It also asks you to give
permission for me to record this session. This is done only for research purposes and no one
else is going to see this. So could you take a look at that and sign it if you're comfortable".
 Have the tester read and sign the consent form. You keep the consent form.
Operate recording equipment
 Turn on camera recording
 Turn on voice recording
 Turn on Screen recording (if applicable)

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2016
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Hovevey Zion St., Tel
th
17
Test Script
Note: This is just an initial draft for the Test Script and tasks. A more detailed description and fine
tuning will be done after the Task Analysis & Wireframing phases.
 Look at the main screen. Can you tell me what the actions that you can do here are?
 [Assuming main screen show current crop status] What can you tell me about your crops'
current status?
 Let's assume that you got a message about one of your crops. It says that the system
recommends to increase irrigation output by 20%. What would you do?
 OK. Now, where would you go if you want to check if that change took place?
 You want to view your crops seasonal plan. What would you do?
 Where would you go to view your irrigation history?
 Where would you go to view your irrigation plan? How can you change this?
 Where would you go to view your mineral deployment plan? How can you change this?
 Where would you go to view the plant type you have in the field? How can you change this?
 You want to make a financial estimation about water cost vs. profits. What would you do
next?
 OK. [Enters Financial Estimation screen] What would be the profit change if you decreased
the amount of water by 22% for 3 months?
 You want to look at what is going on in another field. How would you do that? How do
come back to the first field?
Test conclusion
 Read the following:
"Ok, how do you feel? Was it complicated? I want you to know this wasn't a test for you or
your knowledge… This is strictly a test for the interface and all that you did in the test will
help us improve the usability of the product for further development. I want to thank you
again for your time and effort. You helped us get important data"!