Scopes and Soundings A to Z

A check of an existing product against an accessibility standard, usually WCAG, using automated tools, manual checks and assistive technologies.

Also called accessibility review · WCAG audit

A framework that organises observation notes into five categories: activities, environments, interactions, objects and users.

Also called AEIOU framework

Listing the beliefs a project depends on and plotting them by importance and by the evidence available, to decide which to test first.

Also called assumption matrix · risky assumptions map

The first stage of backward design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005): deciding the understandings, essential questions, knowledge and skills a unit must produce before choosing assessments and activities.

Also called Understanding by Design (UbD) stage 1

Recording where people are in a space and what they are doing at set intervals, on a plan of the space, to see how it is actually used.

Also called space use observation · place-centred mapping

A template of nine building blocks describing how an organisation creates, delivers and captures value: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partners and cost structure (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010).

Also called BMC

Structured observation of a lesson, or of use in context, without intervening, using a schedule to record what happens.

Also called lesson observation · user observation · fly on the wall

Methods for uncovering the knowledge, judgements and cues that experts use but often cannot describe, so that they can be taught or supported. The critical decision method is a common form.

Also called CTA

A structured comparison of similar products, services or programmes against the same criteria. Telekom's variants compare whole journeys, usability or feature sets.

Also called competitive benchmark · competitor analysis · feature comparison · usability benchmark · customer experience benchmark

Listing every piece of content in a product or site and assessing each for accuracy, usefulness and fit, so that it can be kept, revised, merged or removed.

Also called content inventory · ROT analysis (redundant, outdated, trivial)

Describing the setting where learning or use will happen: time, space, devices, connectivity, schedules, support and policies.

Also called environmental analysis · learning context analysis

Interviewing people while they do their real work in their real setting. The researcher acts as an apprentice and the participant as the expert (Beyer & Holtzblatt, 1998).

Also called contextual interview · in-situ interview

A tool from the Design Thinking Toolbox for selecting the few critical issues on which a design challenge depends, so that the team focuses its effort.

Also called critical success factors map

Kits of open-ended tasks and materials, such as postcards, maps, cameras and stickers, that participants complete on their own to reveal feelings and values that are hard to put into words (Gaver et al., 1999).

Also called design probes · probe kits

Charting what is taught, when, how and how it is assessed across a course or level, to find gaps, overlaps and misalignment.

Also called curriculum audit · scope and sequence review

A short document setting out what a design project must achieve, for whom, within what constraints and how success will be judged. It is written by the commissioning team and agreed with the people doing the design.

Also called creative brief · project brief · design challenge brief

Reviewing information that already exists, such as reports, data, policy papers, past studies and competitor material, before collecting new data.

Also called secondary research · literature scan

Participants record their experiences over days or weeks, in writing, photos, voice or video, close to the moment they happen.

Also called experience sampling · camera study

A set of cards showing emotions, as words or faces, from which participants choose to describe how an experience felt.

Also called emotion cards

Planning how participants will be informed, how their consent will be obtained and recorded, and how their data will be stored, used and deleted. With minors, this includes parental consent and the child's own assent.

Also called research ethics review · informed consent and assent

A structured summary of research on a defined question, recording study designs, samples, findings and quality so that conclusions rest on the weight of evidence. A systematic review is the most rigorous form.

Also called rapid evidence assessment · literature review

Interviews with specialists, such as researchers, senior practitioners or technical experts, to understand a domain quickly.

Also called subject-matter expert (SME) interviews

Deliberately studying people at the edges of a population, such as non-users and very heavy users, whose needs are amplified and often foreshadow everyone's. Lead users (von Hippel, 1986) are a related idea: users ahead of a trend who may have built their own solutions.

Also called lead users · edge-case users

Asking "why" repeatedly, about five times, to move from a symptom to an underlying cause or need. It originated in Toyota's production system.

Also called 5 whys · ask 5x why · why-why analysis

A moderated discussion with six to ten participants that explores opinions and reactions through group interaction.

Also called group interview

A systematic search for early signs of change, or weak signals, that could affect an organisation in the future.

Also called environmental scanning · signal scanning

A testable statement that links a change to an expected outcome and a measure: we believe that doing this for these people will produce this result, and we will know when we see this signal.

Also called hypothesis card · "we believe" statement

A grid that sorts initiatives by how far they depart from current offerings and current users, into core, adjacent and transformational (Nagji & Tuff, 2012).

Also called core · adjacent · transformational matrix

The first working session of a project, used to align aims, scope, roles, risks and ways of working before design begins.

Also called project kick-off · inception workshop · chartering session

An interview technique that moves a participant from concrete attributes of a product, through the consequences they value, to the personal values behind them.

Also called means–end laddering

A nine-box adaptation of the business model canvas for new ventures (Maurya, 2012). Its boxes are problem, customer segments, unique value proposition, solution, channels, revenue streams, cost structure, key metrics and unfair advantage.

Also called one-page business plan

Describing the learners a course or product is for: prior knowledge, skills, motivation, language, access needs and the conditions they learn in.

Also called audience analysis · learner profile

Writing statements of what learners will be able to do after learning, using observable action verbs, often drawn from a taxonomy such as revised Bloom's (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) or SOLO (Biggs & Collis, 1982).

Also called learning objectives · intended learning outcomes (ILOs)

Short, focused visits to several classrooms, usually ten minutes each, to gather evidence on one question across a school.

Also called learning walkthrough · instructional rounds

A collaborative cycle from Japan in which teachers study the curriculum, plan a research lesson together, teach it while colleagues observe students, then reflect and revise.

Also called research lesson · jugyō kenkyū

A team member uses a service as an ordinary user would, without revealing their role, to experience its quality and problems at first hand.

Also called mystery shopper · self-experience

Identifying the gap between current and desired performance, and whether learning, or something else such as tools or processes, is the right way to close it.

Also called training needs analysis (TNA) · gap analysis · performance analysis

Users observe and record each other's practice, with a design team's support, which gives access to settings and detail that outsiders may not reach.

Also called peer observation

Participants take photos in response to prompts, then discuss them in an interview. Photovoice is a participatory version used for community advocacy.

Also called photovoice

A two-by-two grid that plots stakeholders by their power over a project and their interest in it, suggesting how to engage each group.

Also called stakeholder matrix · Mendelow's matrix

One or two sentences stating whose problem is being solved, what the problem is and why it matters. It frames the work without naming a solution.

Also called problem definition · challenge statement · design challenge

A diagram with a central problem as the trunk, its causes as roots and its effects as branches, used to separate causes from symptoms.

Also called problem tree analysis · cause and effect tree

A one-page template that captures a project's problem, users, intended value, resources, risks and measures on a single sheet, so a team can see the whole project at once.

Also called opportunity canvas · project model canvas

A short set of statements that guide design decisions within one project, usually derived from research.

Also called design criteria · guiding principles

A document that sets out what a study needs to learn, which methods it will use, who will take part and when. The 5W+H questions (who, what, when, where, why, how) are a common way to build the research questions. For 5W1H as a writing structure, see Instruments and Moves Part A.

Also called research brief · analysis questions builder · 5W+H questions

The team goes into the field to experience a service, and similar services, at first hand, recording what happens at each touchpoint and talking to people using it.

Also called service walkthrough

Following one person through a day or a process to see the whole sequence of their work, including moments they would not report.

Also called day in the life · follow-along

Monitoring public conversation about a service, such as social media, forums and news comments, to track themes and sentiment.

Also called sentiment monitoring

Interviews with people who shape, fund, run or are accountable for a service, to understand goals, constraints and history.

Also called key informant interviews

A diagram of everyone affected by or involved in a project, showing groups and the relationships between them.

Also called stakeholder analysis · actor map

Students design and carry out their own inquiry into an issue that affects them, with adult support, and share findings that inform decisions.

Also called student voice research · youth participatory action research (YPAR)

Agreeing, before design begins, what result will count as success and how it will be measured. In this toolkit the term has its project sense, not the classroom sense of criteria shared with students.

Also called define success · measures of success · success metrics

Categorising help-desk tickets, feedback forms and complaints to find recurring problems and their frequency.

Also called feedback mining · voice of the customer analysis

A structured set of questions sent to many people to measure how common behaviours, attitudes or problems are. For standard scales such as SUS and NPS, see Marks and Measures B9 and Stacks and Sprints B11.

Also called questionnaire · online survey

A four-part analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. Crothers' SWAM canvas is a visual version that shows the organisation as a boat among stars, wind, anchors and mines.

Also called SWAM canvas (stars, wind, anchors, mines) · TOWS matrix

Breaking a task into goals, subtasks and steps, with a plan describing the order in which they are done.

Also called hierarchical task analysis (HTA)

A shared template on which a team records its purpose, goals, roles, values, needs and rules of working. Crothers' team purpose map is a sketched version of the same idea.

Also called team purpose map · team charter

Identifying and describing trends across social, technological, economic, environmental, political and legal domains, and judging how they may affect a project. Telekom's version produces trend boards and a trend map.

Also called trend research · STEEP scan · PESTLE scan · PESTLE canvas · trend boards

Reviewing existing usage data to see what people do with a product before asking them why.

Also called data audit · analytics review

One-to-one conversations with users about their experiences, goals and difficulties, guided by open questions.

Also called in-depth interviews · semi-structured interviews · explorative interview · interview for empathy