The acronym stands for:

  • Activities
    • What were you doing?
    • Was it structured or unstructured?
    • What was your role in the activity?
  • Environments
    • Where were you?
    • What kind of place was it?
    • How did the place make you feel?
  • Interactions
    • What or who were you interacting with?
    • Was the interaction novel or familiar?
    • Was the interaction formal or informal?
  • Objects
    • What objects were you interacting with?
    • What objects helped you feel engaged?
  • Users
    • Who else was there during the activity?
    • How did they make the experience positive or negative?

The method came from Dev Patnaik in his book Needfinding: Design Research and Planning.

References

Burnett, B., & Evans, D. (2016). Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-lived, Joyful Life. Alfred A. Knopf.