The design process described in this book lays out what type of information or level of detail we should be seeking at a particular point in the project. It does not explain how to get the information we need. For this, we rely on various techniques. These are exercises or methodologies that help us ask the appropriate questions and then analyze the answers we receive. These techniques will help us obtain the information we require to ensure our design solutions are on target and offer value to the end user.

I have demonstrated the use of a few of these techniques in the example projects included in this book. However, since each project will require a slightly different approach, and because there are so many options available, it would be impractical to find an example that would adequately illustrate them all. Instead, I will use the next two chapters to supply descriptions of several of the more commonly used techniques which we need to familiarize ourselves...