The Purpose of PACT Analysis

Understanding users is a strong ground to create a decent solution to solve a design problem. Using this method, we can get a clearer idea about who will use our product, how do they use, and why. Then, we can create the product that matches the initial objective.

P = People

Starting with the letter P, It is not only here for the readability of the process's name but also it means that whenever we are going to solve a problem, the first thing that should come in to our head is the users (or people in this context. Therefore, it is about human-centric design.

There are many ways to categorize people such as, physiologically, meaning by age or physical abilities, Phychologically, which means by their perception or, the norm of the society.

One way build a robust model about the users is through creating persona.

A = Activities

Activities means the interaction that users have made during the time they use the product. In additions, it gave more reasoning about the importance of stuff such as "what must be satisfied when users use the product", or "How often do they use the product."

C = Context

Context is about understanding the user's interaction with the problem which contains three sub-components, physical context, social context, phychological context. Here's a good example from the slides.

T = Technologies

There are many technologies in the world, this step is about selecting one that is best suited to the problem. In easy term, I would call this as a medium for the solution.

Overall, every components in PACT analysis can be visualized in a single picture:

I love how this process can be represented; the people in the center means human-centric design and other stuffs just go around it.