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6.3 Some practical issues 1 71

6.3.1 Who are the users?
In Chapter 1, we said that an overarching objective of interaction design is to opti-
mize the interactions people have with computer-based products, and that this re-
quires us to support needs, match wants, and extend capabilities. We also stated
above that the activity of identifying these needs and establishing requirements was
fundamental to interaction design. However, we can't hope to get very far with this
intent until we know who the users are and what they want to achieve. As a starting
point, therefore, we need to know who we consult to find out the users' require-
ments and needs.
Identifying the users may seem like a straightforward activity, but in fact
there are many interpretations of "user." The most obvious definition is those
people who interact directly with the product to achieve a task. Most people
would agree with this definition; however, there are others who can also be
thought of as users. For example, Holtzblatt and Jones (1993) include in their
definition of "users" those who manage direct users, those who receive products
from the system, those who test the system, those who make the purchasing de-
cision, and those who use competitive products. Eason (1987) identifies three
categories of user: primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary users are those
likely to be frequent hands-on users of the system; secondary users are occa-
sional users or those who use the system through an intermediary; and tertiary
users are those affected by the introduction of the system or who will influence
its purchase.
The trouble is that there is a surprisingly wide collection of people who all
have a stake in the development of a successful product. These people are called
stakeholders. Stakeholders are "people or organizations who will be affected by
the system and who have a direct or indirect influence on the system require-
ments" (Kotonya and Sommerville, 1998). Dix et al. (1993) make an observation
that is very pertinent to a user-centered view of development, that "It will fre-
quently be the case that the formal 'client' who orders the system falls very low
on the list of those affected. Be very wary of changes which take power, influ-
ence or control from some stakeholders without returning something tangible in
its place."
Generally speaking, the group of stakeholders for a particular product is
going to be larger than the group of people you'd normally think of as users, al-
though it will of course include users. Based on the definition above, we can see
that the group of stakeholders includes the development team itself as well as its
managers, the direct users and their managers, recipients of the product's out-
put, people who may lose their jobs because of the introduction of the new prod-
uct, and so on.
For example, consider again the calendar system in Activity 6.1. According to
the description we gave you, the user group for the system has just one member:
you. However, the stakeholders for the system would also include people you
make appointments with, people whose birthdays you remember, and even com-
panies that produce paper-based calendars, since the introduction of an elec-
tronic calendar may increase competition and force them to operate differently.