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Add usability testing to your skill set!

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This document provides information about adding usability testing to your skill set. It discusses why usability testing is important, what rapid usability testing entails, different testing methods, and the preparation and process for conducting an unmoderated usability study. Key steps include defining goals, preparing materials like tasks and recruitment, setting up the test environment, observing and analyzing participant videos, and reporting findings to stakeholders. Conducting even a small number of tests can uncover major usability issues.

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ADD USABILITY TESTING TO YOUR SKILL SET! #badcamp #badcampux @lisarex @dcmistry
Lisa Rex @lisarex
Dharmesh Mistry @dcmistry
Refer a friend! Know someone 
 who would be perfect for one of our open positions? $2500 is yours if your referral is hired We’re Hiring! lisa.rex@acquia.com dharmesh.mistry@acquia.com
And who are you?
AGENDA A few basics Preparation for a study Conducting an unmoderated usability study The analysis Q&A
A FEW BASICS
WHY ARE USABILITY STUDIES IMPORTANT? http://www.flickr.com/photos/0olong/479270001/
Buying a shirt for someone...
A http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisinplymouth/4456434875
B http://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/4444576795/
C http://www.flickr.com/photos/whistlepunch/5176579823/
WHAT THE HECK IS RAPID USABILITY TESTING? Observe real users doing real tasks Quick turnaround vs academically rigorous Simple reports
“Testing with one user is 100% better than testing with none.” - Steve Krug
FLAVOR THAT SUITS YOU Formative vs. Summative Moderated vs. Unmoderated In Person vs. Remote
The preparation
GENERAL CONSTRUCTION 1. Goals 2. Prepare - Recruit (Moderated) - Conduct (Moderated) - Set up (Unmoderated) 3. Watch the videos & analyze 4. Report findings
PREP STEP 1: GOALS Talk to stakeholders: “What are the business goals of the study?” “What do we need to learn?” “What are our primary tasks & personas?” “When do we need it?” “What’s our budget for usability testing and fixing problems?”
PREP STEP 2: WHAT TO TEST? Information architecture Prototype Staging site Production site You can test at any point during the project lifecycle
PREP STEP 3: PARTICIPANTS Who to test? New users vs. current users Primary roles & personas How many to test? 5 participants per study is ideal for uncovering the major usability problems while remaining quick and cost effective. 15+ participants for a card sort / IA study
PREP STEP 4: CHOOSING THE METHOD Variety of webapps Usertesting.com, Verifyapp, Treejack, etc
PREP STEP 5: STUDY OUTLINE Starting URL Scenario Tasks (include login details) Post-session questions Choose your participants http://bit.ly/views-study
PREP STEP 5a: WRITING TASKS Do not use words that are in the UI Phrase things in the way people think Write in plain language Put tasks in order; dependencies between the tasks? Include assists Ask them to rate their experience
PREP STEP 5: TEST SITE ENVIRONMENT How will they access the site? Content and user account setup is needed? Do you need to set up separate sites for each? Or re-set between sessions? Tip: Use can use Drush to disable and uninstall modules! Or, if you have a dev, stage and prod environment, overwrite the database on the testing environment
Starting URL: drupal.org Scenario: You have built sites in other CMS, have heard of Drupal, and would like to know more. You work for a non-profit that is looking to replace it’s site with an open source solution.
Task 1: Explore for a couple minutes and tell me what you have learned about Drupal. Task 2: You want to find Drupal experts for hire. Show me how you would do this. Task 3: If you didn’t find it already, Marketplace lists Drupal companies. Now, you want to learn more about the Drupal community. What would you do? Task 4: Let’s say you want to post a support question in the forums. Tell me what steps you would take.
PREP STEP 8: OBSERVATION FORM Priority/Severity Issue summary Link to screenshot Task name Participants who had the issue (frequency)
PREP STEP 6: CHOOSE YOUR PARTICIPANTS
STEP 5: WATCH THE VIDEOS What to note? Things that went well Things that did not go well Capture quotes and annotate screenshots or get video clips
STEP 5: ANALYSIS, cont. Categorize things that did not go well into bugs and usability issues Severity: Low/Medium/ High (or 1-5) Frequency: Number of occurrences Scope: Local/ Global
STEP 6: THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Overall: There were no Critical problems uncovered. Overall, the response was positive and participants could find their way towards achieving the tasks quickly. High severity findings • Bulleted list Medium severity findings • Bulleted list The detailed findings can be found at [URL].
Tools for testing live sites - Usertesting.com - Userlytics.com - Loop11 Tools for testing screenshots - Five Second Test - Invision app - Verifyapp Other - Treejack (IA studies) - Webform.com (Diary studies)
Q&A

More Related Content

Add usability testing to your skill set!

  • 1. ADD USABILITY TESTING TO YOUR SKILL SET! #badcamp #badcampux @lisarex @dcmistry
  • 3. Dharmesh Mistry @dcmistry
  • 4. Refer a friend! Know someone 
 who would be perfect for one of our open positions? $2500 is yours if your referral is hired We’re Hiring! lisa.rex@acquia.com dharmesh.mistry@acquia.com
  • 6. AGENDA A few basics Preparation for a study Conducting an unmoderated usability study The analysis Q&A
  • 8. WHY ARE USABILITY STUDIES IMPORTANT? http://www.flickr.com/photos/0olong/479270001/
  • 9. Buying a shirt for someone...
  • 13. WHAT THE HECK IS RAPID USABILITY TESTING? Observe real users doing real tasks Quick turnaround vs academically rigorous Simple reports
  • 14. “Testing with one user is 100% better than testing with none.” - Steve Krug
  • 15. FLAVOR THAT SUITS YOU Formative vs. Summative Moderated vs. Unmoderated In Person vs. Remote
  • 17. GENERAL CONSTRUCTION 1. Goals 2. Prepare - Recruit (Moderated) - Conduct (Moderated) - Set up (Unmoderated) 3. Watch the videos & analyze 4. Report findings
  • 18. PREP STEP 1: GOALS Talk to stakeholders: “What are the business goals of the study?” “What do we need to learn?” “What are our primary tasks & personas?” “When do we need it?” “What’s our budget for usability testing and fixing problems?”
  • 19. PREP STEP 2: WHAT TO TEST? Information architecture Prototype Staging site Production site You can test at any point during the project lifecycle
  • 20. PREP STEP 3: PARTICIPANTS Who to test? New users vs. current users Primary roles & personas How many to test? 5 participants per study is ideal for uncovering the major usability problems while remaining quick and cost effective. 15+ participants for a card sort / IA study
  • 21. PREP STEP 4: CHOOSING THE METHOD Variety of webapps Usertesting.com, Verifyapp, Treejack, etc
  • 22. PREP STEP 5: STUDY OUTLINE Starting URL Scenario Tasks (include login details) Post-session questions Choose your participants http://bit.ly/views-study
  • 23. PREP STEP 5a: WRITING TASKS Do not use words that are in the UI Phrase things in the way people think Write in plain language Put tasks in order; dependencies between the tasks? Include assists Ask them to rate their experience
  • 24. PREP STEP 5: TEST SITE ENVIRONMENT How will they access the site? Content and user account setup is needed? Do you need to set up separate sites for each? Or re-set between sessions? Tip: Use can use Drush to disable and uninstall modules! Or, if you have a dev, stage and prod environment, overwrite the database on the testing environment
  • 25. Starting URL: drupal.org Scenario: You have built sites in other CMS, have heard of Drupal, and would like to know more. You work for a non-profit that is looking to replace it’s site with an open source solution.
  • 26. Task 1: Explore for a couple minutes and tell me what you have learned about Drupal. Task 2: You want to find Drupal experts for hire. Show me how you would do this. Task 3: If you didn’t find it already, Marketplace lists Drupal companies. Now, you want to learn more about the Drupal community. What would you do? Task 4: Let’s say you want to post a support question in the forums. Tell me what steps you would take.
  • 27. PREP STEP 8: OBSERVATION FORM Priority/Severity Issue summary Link to screenshot Task name Participants who had the issue (frequency)
  • 28. PREP STEP 6: CHOOSE YOUR PARTICIPANTS
  • 29. STEP 5: WATCH THE VIDEOS What to note? Things that went well Things that did not go well Capture quotes and annotate screenshots or get video clips
  • 30. STEP 5: ANALYSIS, cont. Categorize things that did not go well into bugs and usability issues Severity: Low/Medium/ High (or 1-5) Frequency: Number of occurrences Scope: Local/ Global
  • 31. STEP 6: THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Overall: There were no Critical problems uncovered. Overall, the response was positive and participants could find their way towards achieving the tasks quickly. High severity findings • Bulleted list Medium severity findings • Bulleted list The detailed findings can be found at [URL].
  • 32. Tools for testing live sites - Usertesting.com - Userlytics.com - Loop11 Tools for testing screenshots - Five Second Test - Invision app - Verifyapp Other - Treejack (IA studies) - Webform.com (Diary studies)
  • 33. Q&A

Editor's Notes

  1. LR\n
  2. Acquia product usability , I’ve been in the community for just over three years, involved with Drupal.org projects, as well as a bit of work on Drupal 7 help text, and more recently we did Views usability study and a Drupal 8 information architecture usability study\n
  3. \n
  4. http://www.acquia.com/careers\n
  5. LR\nHow many call themselves Developer/ Designer / Business Person, None of the above?)\nHow many of you have conducted usability testing before? \nHow many of you have asked for budget for usability studies?\n\n
  6. LR - odon’t read this. we want to ensure you can run a usability study by the end of this session. overview of tools and process\n
  7. \n
  8. The way we design is not always the way things are used. Find out the delta betwenen them.\nThings we could uncover: \n Visual problems (like contrast)\n Error messaging and UI text\n Content\n Navigation and findability problems\n Workflow problems\n\n
  9. \n
  10. \n
  11. DM\n
  12. \n
  13. \n
  14. \n
  15. “Usability testing is the second most used evaluation method and the method that has the most impact on making products better” \nAdvantages of unmoderated over moderated. \nUnmoderated is faster, asynchronous, less steps to cover but doesn’t offer probe and not suitable for studies that require a lot of in-time probing. \n\n
  16. DM start\nPreparation is the longest phase of the process \n
  17. \n
  18. business goals translate to UX goals \n
  19. \n
  20. Usability specialists believe it is not cost effective to run more because it only uncovers more minor \nproblems\n\n\n\n“Virtually all of the problems judged high in severity were discovered after running 5 subjects, whereas only 55% of the problems judged low in severity were found.”\n
  21. recording: Silverback Morae WebEx \nscreenshare: Skype Join.me Google+ hangout\n
  22. \n
  23. \n
  24. \n
  25. LR Start\n
  26. \n
  27. \n
  28. \n
  29. DM start\n
  30. \n
  31. \n
  32. LR start at Invision\n
  33. \n