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2.2 Understanding the problem space 37

how? In the above example, this involves finding out what is problematic with ex-
isting forms of navigating while driving (e.g., trying to read maps while moving the
steering wheel) and how to ensure that drivers can continue to drive safely without
being distracted.
Clarifying your usability and user experience goals is a central part of working
out the problem space. This involves making explicit your implicit assumptions and
claims. Assumptions that are found to be vague can highlight design ideas that
need to be better formulated. The process of going through them can also help to
determine relevant user needs for a given activity. In many situations, this involves
identifying human activities and interactivities that are problematic and working
out how they might be improved through being supported with a different form of
interaction. In other situations it can be more speculative, requiring thinking
through why a novel and innovative use of a new technology will be potentially
useful.
Below is another scenario in which the problem space focuses on solving an
identified problem with an existing product. Initial assumptions are presented first,
followed by a further explanation of what lies behind these (assumptions are high-
lighted in italics):
A large software company has decided to develop an upgrade of its web browser.
They assume that there is a need for a new one, which has better and more powerful
functionality. They begin by carrying out an extensive study of people's actual use of
web browsers, talking to lots of different kinds of users and observing them using
their browsers. One of their main findings is that many people do not use the
bookmarking feature effectively. A common finding is that it is too restrictive and
underused. In fathoming why this is the case, it was considered that the process of
placing web addresses into hierarchical folders was an inadequate way of supporting
the user activity of needing to mark hundreds and sometimes thousands of websites
such that any one of them could be easily returned to or forwarded onto other
people. An implication of the study was that a new way of saving and retrieving web
addresses was needed.

In working out why users find the existing feature of bookmarking cumber-
some to use, a further assumption was explicated:
The existing way of organizing saved (favorite) web addresses into folders is
inefjicient because it takes too long and is prone to errors.
A number of underlying reasons why this was assumed to be the case were fur-
ther identified, including:
It is easy to lose web addresses by placing them accidentally into the wrong
folders.
It is not easy to move web addresses between folders.
It is not obvious how .to move a number of addresses from the saved favorite
list into another folder simultaneously.
It is not obvious how to reorder web addresses once placed in folders.