Business Analyst in XR world
Last year, I started a new journey as a Business Analyst(BA) in the XR technology domain. Here I share my XR journey from zero. I don’t say, I have gained enough but I know that I am traversing in the right path. Thanks to my team in #Thoughtworks. They understand my strengths and help me unwind my weakness. More importantly, constant feedback and being “hands-on” using the device helps to stay corrected and focussed.
This post covers some of my learnings in XR as a BA so that its helpful for beginners like me. Another noble thought from Thoughtworks — share what you learn.
The role of a BA in XR is often compared to be identical to a movie director of a science fiction movie. As a director, it is important that you understand the theme/content, making it unique, engaging and relevant to the user. Similarly, as a BA, you are expected to have the complete vision, keep your users engaged in the magical world and visualize the end state. Also do make sure to guide the team to complete the vision. So, what it meant to be visualizing the end state? What does it cover?
While a typical BA is responsible for conceptualizing the idea, generating a business case and prototyping to creating an MVP. In an XR world, a BA is expected to work along with the team to uncover the following:
Setting the Scene: Like any movie director, it’s important to set an engaging scene for your users to keep them immersed. In XR, It’s important that we set the correct scene without any discomfort for the users. This means there is no fatigue to the user in terms of vision, necks, and arms. Interactions must be kept close to natural movements without any discomfort. It’s imperative that we understand the physical space, environmental factors (light & sound), users and their behavioral and interaction patterns.
Design Elements: 3D designs are quite different from 2D. Don’t enforce to transfer or replicate a functionality designed for 2D into 3D. Start delivering unique experiences for your XR users. The content has to be immersive to the user and not like traditional tablets, mobiles, and laptops which limits user experience only to the screen. Another key element is being relevant by avoiding the clutter and make sure the design elements are closer to the human senses. The design must allow users to embed both real-world and virtual world objects into the cognitive vision. The overlay must not be explicit rather allow users to imbibe without any visual interference. The experience must supplement the user’s engagement and not take away from it
The ViewPort: Unlike mobile phones, users' field of view is not restricted only to the device. The user interacts with the real world spaces, the screen lies ahead of his eyes, embedded with the real-world objects. It is important to give the right visualization/experience to the user. The virtual objects must blend with the real-world objects and not distract or obstruct the viewport of the customer.
The viewport is typically a rectangular frame allowing users to see digital content overlaid onto the real world around them. The key is to let users see the full size of the object before the scale overwhelms the frame. For example, a holographic truck or a car should be displayed to fit fully within the frame, allowing users to form a spatial understanding of the vehicle's overall shape, before sizing to real-world scale.
Users Comfort: When designing XR experiences care should be taken to comprehend the amount of head movements for a user. It is recommended to limit the head movement of the user and keep it around the optimal region (0 to 35 degrees). All interactions must occur in the center of the viewport. Horizontal (side-side) interactions are preferred and recommended for frequent interactions and vertical (up-down) interactions must be limited for uncommon events. For larger objects (beyond the viewport size) consider scaling and allowing full-body movement rather than the neck movement. It is to be noted that any discomfort in using the application destroys user experience and limits the users irrespective of having great business value.
User Interactions: The user interactions in XR span beyond the traditional mouse and keyboard. You don't need any external devices to interact with the objects. Your head is the new mouse and eyes are new pointers. You start interacting just by looking at the objects.
The first learning of maze — you don’t click — “You Gaze”
There are other modes of interactions such as voice, natural hand gestures and remote controllers. It is important based on the type of application and user behavior we decide on the primary interaction mode. In most cases, gaze inputs are closer to user senses and could be the primary mode. But in situations where users need to annotate, draw and scale objects, hand gestures are quite friendly. Voice inputs also help users to achieve tasks quickly — provided the environment is noise-free. It may be wise to consider combine interaction modes as when necessary. Consider if you are working on app for a warehouse worker where both his hands are occupied, voice + gaze could be a primary input type rather than having hand gestures.
Irrespective of the input types, we need to also establish as much as visual cues for the users to interact. A simple highlight on gaze hover/rollover helps the user to identify that the object is selected. Visual cues could also indicate the relative position of the 3D object when users move out of the viewport. In some cases, audio cues could be more helpful as they are non-intrusive and may guide users to complete the task without interrupting the scene they are operating. Consider a workflow application, where the audio guides the users on the steps when his hands are working on the device while manual is projected ahead of him with the workflow steps. Fascinating right!!!
As a BA, we need to make sure interactions are made seamless without affecting user behavior. Any interaction failing to produce favorable results deters user engagement. Say if a user tries to gaze a checkbox in a workflow application and fails to get click on it, the application stumbles there and fails to capture user attention. Note unlike traditional devices, a user does not have quite a number of alternate mechanisms or options to interact.
Typography & Luminosity (light): The displays of XR vs typical retina screens are quite different. The surfaces are not typically plane and surroundings and environment also changes dynamically. Hence it's very important to focus on legibility and readability of texts and shapes. A study by Gabbard et al and Fiorentino et al suggests using white text in billboard-style (a rectangular block behind the text) and usage of thin outline around the typefaces for better contrast. Like any movie, light effects are very important and care should be taken, applications are ambient to users' eyes.
Sounds and Haptic feedback: What is a movie without sound effects? Similarly in XR, sound and haptic feedbacks are quite important to produce a completely immersive environment. XR requires a different approach than the traditional touch and keyboard-and-mouse applications. Key sound design decisions include which sounds to spatialize and which interactions to sonify. These decisions strongly affect user confidence, productivity, and learning experience.
Safety: While designing applications, care should be taken that the overlay digital objects obstruct users' field of view and potentially hurt the person. While the technology is widely applied to multiple safety-related trainings, care should be taken on the usage of the device. Appropriate warnings should be given to users in terms of overheating and user stability.
I hope you will agree now, BA in XR is no lesser than a movie director. BA ensures to travel along with all the team members (technical team, designers and testers) to provide the magical experience for the users. If you’ve any feedback and have any resources specific to BA in XR — please let me know in the comments! I’m very interested to discuss your experiences and learn your experiences in XR.
What’s next?
In the upcoming articles, we will talk in little more detail on the above aspects in the purview of BA and its impact on XR.
