All About That Use Case: Back to Basics
Written by the DSH team*
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This fall, the Data for Society Hub (DSH) aims to establish a use case. In this first instalment of our series “All About That Use Case”, the team speaks with project manager Esmaël Mourtaza and solutions architect Luc Véronneau to learn more about what defines a use case and which milestones the DSH is working toward.
Use Cases: The Basics
A “use case” begins with a need, which prompts the creation of a product whose purpose is to fulfill that need. It describes, in plain and accessible language, how the intended end-user of a product will actually use that product to reach a goal. An example of this, offers Luc Véronneau, is website authentication. If someone wants to log into their Google account, the login process itself can be defined as a use case; prior to its implementation, “logging in” was considered a use case upon which specifications had to be built.
In the world of software development and IT programming, the term “use case” helps bridge the gap between developers and those who are unfamiliar with technical language. “The idea was to make it easier for everyone,” says Esmaël Mourtaza. “We all learn to speak human languages. Now, let’s speak machine languages.”
The DSH project includes multiple partners who will create and collaborate and share data and information with one another. The orchestration of the data transfers that happen along the way within that process — from start to finish — consists of “the archetypal use case of the context in which we’re working,” says Véronneau. “We’re trying to establish a collaboration framework between different partners, and we want to build something from a simple set of data sources, and see how those sources are shared and transformed from one partner to the next.”
Some questions for the team to consider: What type of discussions do we need to have in order to establish that collaboration framework? And what kind of agreements do we need to create between the partners before sharing that information?
Major Milestones
The next milestone for the DSH will be to determine a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), which is an early functional version of the product that only includes its core features. Mourtaza confirms that the DSH will establish an MVP in the next three to four months, by the end of November 2022.
Once they establish an MVP, the team will work in cycles of six to eight weeks to share new iterations of their work with the partners, who will immediately be able to make use of the new product version. These short cycles, or “sprints,” will take place during the following eight to nine months.
As project manager, Mourtaza aims to meet with the partners during each cycle to reiterate their needs and gather feedback. Partners will be encouraged to share their ideas regarding how to improve certain functionalities, and what the team should work on next. “We have five partners, and each one has their own availability and specific ideas about what they need, and many of them want to be really involved,” says Mourtaza. “Balancing all of that is going to be complex. It will likely be a challenge we’ll face moving forward.”
The team and partners began various tasks related to the use case on October 28, 2022.
* Editorial: Angelina Mazza; content editing: Karolyne Arseneault, Sara Selma Maref, Luc Véronneau, and Esmaël Mourtaza.
The Data for Society Hub is a project by Montréal in Common, a community for the development of innovative projects for the Smart Cities Challenge.
