Comments on: Focus groups

By: Donna Maurer

Donna Maurer — Thu, 27 Feb 2003 08:34:38 +0000

James – I’m glad you asked that question. On thinking about it, I suspect that the success of the focus group was because I had provided the requirements for discussion. So, rather than trying to pull requirements out of air, there was something concrete to discuss. I must think on this further…

Eric – you know that I know that focus groups aren’t suited to this, but I’m helping on someone else’s project, and this is their standard method.

By: Eric Scheid

Eric Scheid — Thu, 27 Feb 2003 02:21:51 +0000

Using focus groups for requirements gathering is like using card sorts for usability testing.

Good tool, bad use.

Focus groups are best used earlier in the project, before business objectives have been nailed down. Use them to guide and inform strategy, not specify tactics. They should be used to identify issues, conflicts, questions; not requirements, specifications, answers.

By: James Robertson

James Robertson — Wed, 26 Feb 2003 23:55:55 +0000

Any ideas about why was this particular session so successful?

I too typically seen less-than-great results from focus groups…