post it notes on wall

Usability Testing

ByGrant

Usability Testing is a method for discovering what people actually do on a website or app.

A participant is given tasks and asked to perform them using the service while their actions and out-loud thoughts are recorded and observed.

The test is streamed live to team members and project stakeholders to show people’s behaviors. If this is not possible, the facilitator edits a highlight reel to show stakeholders and team members at a later date.

While watching either the live test or highlight reels (if not possible to watch live) participants write post-it notes focusing on problems people experience, the feelings the users exhibit, and things to test in the future. While the purpose of this exercise is only problem exploration, possible solutions may be captured into a “parking lot” for further discussion after the team defines and prioritizes all problems.

Next, the team adds their sticky notes to the wall and discusses what they saw. The team then decides on the priority of each problem and considers the cost of fixing it. Highest priority problems should be focused on first adding on additional problems to fix as resources allow. The rest of the issues stay on the wall can be moved onto the product backlog.

Resources

Krug, S. (2010). Rocket surgery made easy: The do-it-yourself guide to finding and fixing usability problems. New Riders.

What is Usability Testing? (n.d.). The Interaction Design Foundation. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/usability-testing

Similar Posts

an image showing a tool measuring desirabilty

Outcome metrics for product desirability

ByGrant

A solution to merging business metrics with things humans care about Measuring the users’ experience with a product is fraught with difficulties. There are two traps—business metrics or dubious quantitative measures like SUS, NPS, C-Sat, or CES. Jared Spool developed “Outcome Metrics” to combat this problem. These enable product design praxes ensure smooth product interactions….

Goal-Directed Design Process

ByGrant

Goal-Directed Design is a method of user-centered design that prioritizes looking for the goals of the end users and developing solutions to assist them in achieving those goals and overcoming the obstacles that block them. This is well documented in the books About Face and Designing for the Digital Age. Hugh Dubberly wrote a concise…

Conceptual Models describe how the product fits together

ByGrant

“Modern software processes have mastered the art of making, but not the art of understanding,” says Daniel O’Neil. To get at the understanding, he suggests using a conceptual model. The purpose of these is to help everyone on the product team understand the true intent behind the product. It supports requirements through communicating a conceptual…

Evaluating the Continuous Discovery and Delivery Model

ByGrant

The Continuous Discovery and Delivery (CDD) is one model to capture the design process. It is similar to a Lean UX approach in its etic perspective and to a Double Diamond process in its structure. The product manager leads a team continuously through these 5 stages: Product Discovery Product Discovery is the first stage in…

Have your say

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.