User Analysis
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Interviews
We have interviewed three people from different age groups who can be typical users of our products.
User 1: The Older Parent
Gender: Male
Age: Late 40s
Key Traits
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User 1 has been to many restaurants in his lifetime. He is an immigrant to the United States and does not consider himself tech savvy. He is not very fluent with English and says he bases his order off of any images in the menu and what "looks good." He states that this is the main reason why he prefers restaurants who has waiters and waitress who speaks his native language rather than American restaurants. He has to be aware of his food allergies every time he goes out. |
User 2: The College Student
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Key Traits
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User 2 likes to go out with his friends on weekends to restaurants. He doesn't have a preference for restaurants and loves trying new places even if he has a hard time ordering unfamiliar dishes. He usually don't spend too much, and he often goes with serval other people (groups of 6-10). That makes it harder to split the bill because people often don't bring cash and prefer to pay with their debit/credit cards. They also have trouble calculating the tip so that each person would pay the same amount for tip. He likes to take his dates out to higher restaurant. However at higher end restaurants, he has trouble understand the "fancy" terms and names of dishes, making it harder for him to order food. |
User 3: The Waitress
Gender: Female
Age: Early 20s
Key Traits
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User 3 has been a waitress for multiple restaurants since she was in high school. She states that it is a very stressful job when she has to interact with a lot of customers during rush hours or when she has to deal with rude customers. She says she has to keep mental tabs of when she has checked up on tables to make sure everything is okay. She hates it when customers take too long to order or asks too much about the food because he hold her backs from working with other tables. |
Conclusion
From our interviews, we have made a conclusion about what our general audience is like and how our product should address their goals.
User Classes
1. Customer
- Isn't always tech savvy - People from every age class and demographic goes out to eat at restaurants. Our product must be extremely easy to use so that customers who aren't tech savvy can quickly learn and use it in an intuitive manner.
- Often seeks help when ordering food - Our product will attempt to make the menu more dynamic so that customers can know the options offered at the restaurant and know what they are actually ordering. People might want portion sizes, nutrition facts, and ingredients in addition to the standard description of the dishes.
- May not know the language the restaurant uses - The customer can come form any culture. OpenMenu should help them order food even if they can understand the language of the menu/restaurant.
- May require assistance with paying the bill - People often come eating in groups, and splitting the bill can be hard.
2. Waiter/Waitress
- Has trouble managing multiples tables and large quantities of customers - Our product will help waiters/waitress manage when they should check up on a table and notify them when customers are unsatisfied.
- Dislikes interacting with rude customers - OpenMenu will minimize the waiter's/waitress' interaction with customers, especially if the customers are rude. Likewise, if the customers are friendly, they can still check up on the customer if they wish.
- Dislikes answering too many questions about food - Our product will give the customer more information about the food and allow them to personalize orders without pestering the waiter/waitress.
- Hates waiting too long for customers to order food - Our product will eliminate the need for the waiter/waitress to wait for the customers to be ready to order food since they will send their order straight to the waiter via our product.
Task Analysis
1. View Foods and Other Products of the Restaurant
Goal: Give the user more information on the items in the menu
OpenMenu will display a picture of the every item on the menu, as well as ingredients and nutritional facts. This will give the user a better idea of what each item is and whether or not it is something they want to order. Additionally, some people want to know nutritional facts, in case they are on a diet or something similar. Displaying the nutritional facts will allow them to judge what they can and cannot eat.
Subtasks
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- View images of foods
- View ingredients of foods
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Questions
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- Why is the task being done?
- To view all items that the restaurant offers, giving the user more information
- What does the user need to know or have before doing the task?
- The user can go in knowing little about the device or service
- Where is the task being performed?
- On the device
- How often is the task performed?
- Presumably performed every time customer orders (very often)
- What are its time or resource constraints?
- Only depends on if there are enough devices for every customer currently in the restaurant
- How is the task learned?
- Through a quick tutorial for navigation on touch controls (if necessary)
- What can go wrong? (Exceptions, errors, emergencies)
- Device could break
2. Filter and Compare Items
Goal: Make it easier for the user to choose their order
We will allow the user to filter the menu by type of food, such as pasta or burgers, or by ingredients, such as chicken or shrimp. This will allow the user to zone in on the kind of food they want much faster. In addition, many customers often spend a lot of time deliberating between a couple choices. Allowing the user to compare the items side-by-side is much easier and more efficient than flipping back and forth between pages of the menu.
Subtasks
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- Filter items based on type and ingredients
- Compare between multiple items while deciding
Order with Optional Custom Specifications
Goal: Give the user more control on how their food is prepared
A lot of times, customers are very picky about how their food is prepared or what is put in their food. Some customers, for example, want to take out one ingredient and replace it with another. OpenMenu will allow the customer to give the waiter specific instructions so that their food will be prepared exactly the way they want it to.
Ask for Help with a Real Waiter or Waitress
Goal: Allow the user to get more information from a real person
If the menu doesn't answer the questions the customer has or if they prefer to interact with humans rather than technology, they can call over a real waiter or waitress to help them with any question they might have.
View and Pay Bill
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Questions
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- Why is the task being done?
- Make it easier for the user to choose their order
- What does the user need to know or have before doing the task?
- Needs to have a general idea of what kind of food they want
- Where is the task being performed?
- On the device
- How often is the task performed?
- About 2-3 times per customer for filtering and comparing
- What are its time or resource constraints?
- Resource constraints is number of devices in the restaurants
- How is the task learned?
- Customer needs to be informed of option
- What can go wrong? (Exceptions, errors, emergencies)
- Device could malfunction or there could be a bad connection between the customer's device and the kitchen.
3. Play Touchscreen Games or Browse Web
While waiting for food, customers are often bored with nothing to do. And since food preparation can take a long time, sometimes upwards of an hour, users can get bored or annoyed very quickly. With OpenMenu offering games and web browsing, the customers can be pass the time easily while waiting for their food. For the customer going out by himself, this is a good way to pass the time while waiting for food. For customers going out in groups, the games are a great way to socialize with their friends.
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Questions
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- Why is the task being done?
- To entertain the customer while waiting for their food to arrive
- What does the user need to know or have before doing the task?
- The user simply needs to be informed by the waiter/waitress that this feature exists
- Where is the task being performed?
- On the device
- How often is the task performed?
- Presumably after every customer orders (very often)
- What are its time or resource constraints?
- Only depends on if there are enough devices for every customer currently in the restaurant
- How is the task learned?
- Customer only needs to be informed that the feature exists
- What can go wrong? (Exceptions, errors, emergencies)
- Device could break
4. View and Pay Bill
After the meal, customers are left waiting for the bill while the waiter or waitress is bogged on with other customers. This can be a very inefficient process. With OpenMenu, customers will be able to swipe their cards at the table or choose the cash option to get the waiter's or waitress' attention. The option of splitting the check and calculating the tips will also be included to make everyone's lives easier.
Subtasks
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- Split the check
- Calculate tip
Offer Touchscreen Games or News
Goal: Keep customers entertained while waiting for the food to arrive
While waiting for food, customers are often bored with nothing to do. And since food preparation can take a long time, sometimes upwards of an hour, users can get bored or annoyed very quickly. With OpenMenu offering games and web browsing, the customers can be pass the time easily while waiting for their food.
Subtasks:
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Questions
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- Why is the task being done?
- Allow the customer to pay and split bills quickly and easily
- What does the user need to know or have before doing the task?
- An idea of how they want to pay the bill
- Where is the task being performed?
- On the device
- How often is the task performed?
- Once at the end of every meal
- What are its time or resource constraints?
- Resource constraints is number of devices in the restaurants
- How is the task learned?
- Customer will be prompted and guided through the payment process
- What can go wrong? (Exceptions, errors, emergencies)
- Device could be unable to pull up the bill or read the credit card