11. Observations - pros and cons

 

Advantages of observations
Disadvantages of observations
Useful if there are no documents involved the system People don't like being watched
Can spot inefficiencies in the system People may be following the process to the letter rather than day-to-day practice
Can help identify persistent problems Take up a lot of time
Analyst can rapidly understand first-hand what the system needs to do Analyst may be in the way on a busy day
Users can impart their experience of the system directly Not so efficient at capturing quantitative data for analysis
Helps measure how long things take to do There may be 'good days' and 'bad days' with the system which one observation does not capture

 

challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you

Click on this link: Observation