You start a new job on Monday
Your first job is at a sports club. You know nothing about badminton. Nobody gives you a manual.
What do you ask? Who do you ask? What do you write down?
Before a project, good developers learn the world of the client first. You can learn it in an hour if you ask the right questions.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Industry | The kind of business the client is in. | sport, health, shops |
| Research | Finding out facts before you act. | reading a fact sheet |
| Stakeholder | Anyone who cares about the solution. | the manager, the members |
| Fact | Something you can check. | The club has 2 courts |
| Opinion | What somebody thinks. You cannot check it. | The courts are too busy |
| Source | Where a fact comes from. | the club manager |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Practice fact sheet: Hillside Sports Club
| Topic | What we know |
|---|---|
| What it is | A club with 2 badminton courts, open 9 in the morning to 9 at night |
| Who uses it | About 120 members and some visitors |
| How people book now | They phone the desk. The staff write in a paper book |
| The problem | Two people sometimes get the same court at the same time |
| Prices | Members 4 pounds an hour. Visitors 6 pounds an hour |
| Who works there | A manager, Mrs Okafor, and two part-time desk staff |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Quick check: fact or opinion?
Have a go
Quick check: fact or opinion?
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Five questions to ask about any industry
Use these five questions for any client:
- Who uses the service?
- What do they want to do?
- How do they do it now?
- What goes wrong today?
- What rules must the business follow?
Write short answers. One line each is enough.
The pre-task is not marked
data-callouts.note.label
The specification says the pre-task is not marked and not done under exam conditions. You may work in a group, share what you find and lead a talk. It still helps: you read the brief faster and guess less.
What a good note looks like
A good note is short. It has the fact, the source and a date.
Bad note: "Club is busy."
Good note: "Courts are full on Saturday mornings. Source: manager. 12 March."
Put your notes in a table. You can find them again fast.