One thing you want to do with your scenarios is to check that they’re representative of what users will want to do and how they behave. Scenarios well-grounded in contextual data collected directly from users is therefore critical.
But sanity-checking your scenarios in terms of common user concerns is useful. Usability guru Professor John Carroll developed a set of common user concerns based on the analysis of many scenarios from several different designs.
Check whether your set of scenarios cover the following situations:
- Encountering the system for the first time - how will users know what they can do, what goals are supported?
- Opportunistic interaction - exploring and trying things out. What might users try to do?
- Searching - what searches might users want to do?
- Following procedures - how does they system help users through step-by-step procedures?
- Seeking and using explanations - for example, working out why something isn’t working, or working out what novel terminology might mean.
- Skill development - encouraging users to develop more effective strategies, use more functionality, or become more efficient?