asynchronous collaborative design
As new usability support analysts at SAS Institute, the authors were challenged with the goal of gathering design input from a diverse population of internal and external design stakeholders. After considering participatory design as the methodology of choice, it was found that simultaneous, collaborative sessions were not possible due to prospective participant time constraints. This constraint motivated the authors to devise and use Asynchronous Collaborative Design methods that were tailored to the specific needs of the data gathering efforts that took place throughout the duration of the project. All methods resulted in a rich set of data that informed subsequent design decisions. However, methods were also associated with drawbacks. The pros and cons of each method are described in this paper.
collaborative design design methods usability methodologies