Scenarios of use

Describing a meaningful and representative interaction flow is the main focus when writing scenarios of use. The elements of a scenario are the context in which the digital product is used, the user and other involved people, requisites that are used, actions performed to operate the product and events that occur when using the system. As a typical outcome of the user analysis or field study phase, scenarios of use can be conceived as the synthesis of everything the designer has learnt so far. In consequence the scenarios of use can serve to verify whether the input has been interpreted in a correct way and whether the assumptions are right so far.

Current-state scenarios cover how users accomplish goals now, before introducing the new product. Future-state scenarios explore how the envisaged product would affect the storyline.

The method for writing a scenario of use comprises of the following steps:

• Identify users, their tasks and the general context, which form the basis for the scenarios of use
• Decompose user goals into the activities needed to achieve them
• Consider which activities should be performed by the user and which by the computer
• Create an outline for the scenario, which will consist of activities and tasks
• Write a good story around the agreed-on outline
• Review the scenario with real users and fine-tune it

From a broader software development perspective scenarios of use relate to business analysis and use cases. Where business analysis mostly specifies business processes in a formal and abstract way, scenarios of use represent a concrete instance of such a business process.
A scenario of use typically is a combination of multiple use cases. The scenarios should cover a meaningful and representative interaction flow, in which the most important aspects of the interaction are specified. It is possible that more than one use case is required for making an interaction meaningful.