Customer Shadowing

CustomerShadowing is a technique which was utilized in gathering requirements from customers of the VcapsProject. This process though simple, is quite powerful, and provided useful insight into business knowledge and functionality. The basic principle in CustomerShadowing is to observe the customers as they work without interfering in their work process. Some guidelines were established to minimize the distractions that observing can cause, and to enhance the ability of the observer to gather information.


CustomerShadowing Guidelines

Shadower Responsibilities

Documentation and Feedback Questions to be Answered


Benefits

While observing the customers, several benefits clearly became evident.


So would this be a case where ... "The Shadow Knows!" :-)


I am confused by the apparent contradiction in the philosophy and action given at the top of this page.

is followed by I can't see how to do both. This isn't to say that asking probing questions isn't good... it is to say that I can't see how to not interfere and also ask probing questions. Help? --AlistairCockburn

This only makes sense if you understand the VcapsProject culture. At the time it was common when a customer asked a question or a user submitted a bug for some jangster to launch in to a searing tirade about how the system was not being used properly. Not interfering means patiently watching a user inventing new ways to use the system without criticism. You ask probing questions to discover the root inadequacy that is causing the system to be used in such unforeseen ways. --DonWells

There's one other thing to remember about this process. The customers have to agree to be shadowed for certain period of time. It's not like we just showed up at their office and plopped down next to them and said, "Oh, don't mind me, but I'm gonna watch you for a few hours." We had to get agreement not only from the shodowees but from their management as well. We went through a couple short meetings to explain the process and what we hoped to get out of it. The guidelines were there to help illustrate that we would try to be as invisible as possible, but at times, we would need to ask some questions to get to the heart of what our customers were trying to accomplish. They understood that there could be some interruptions before we started the shadowing. That's why we put in the very next bullet point (after "Ask probing questions…") that states, "Explain to the customer that they may stop the CustomerShadowing process at any time if they feel it is interfering with their work." Maybe we should have said "excessively interfering", but our customers understood what we meant.

Like anything else, this is a give and take process between yourself and your customer. Both have to be willing to exchange a little bit of productivity in the short term (developer not developing, customer not working as fast as possible) for the betterment of the end result of the project. The big benefit of CustomerShadowing is to watch how someone actually uses the tools at their disposal to reach a certain goal. It gives the shadower a clearer picture of the problems that need to be solved on the business side. --TomKubit


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