How a Green, Bewildered UX Researcher Uncovered Loads of Valuable Data

1. Usability Testing
How a Green, Bewildered UX Researcher
Uncovered Loads of Valuable Data
Diane Bowen
User Experience Practitioner
@UXDiane
1

2. Usability Testing
Testing with one user is 100% better than
testing with none.
Krug’s first law of usability
@UXDiane
2

3. Usability Testing
The interview is a powerful method to
understand human behavior.
@UXDiane
3

4. Usability Testing
The interview is a powerful method to
understand human behavior.
I had no idea what I was doing.
@UXDiane
4

5. Usability Testing vs User Testing
Usability testing: “Is this product or service easy to learn
and use?”
Participants are users.
User Testing: Finds bugs before the product or service
is released.
Participants are QA or Developers
@UXDiane
5

6. Usability Testing
Usability testing: “Is this product or service easy to learn
and use?”
Participants are users.
Discovers the goals, motivations, and behaviors of
users.
@UXDiane
6

7. Interviewing Users by Portigal
•Leave your worldview at the
door.
•The user is the expert.
•Build Rapport.
@UXDiane
7

8. Nielsen Norman Group
The best results come
from testing no more
than 5 users and
running as many
small tests as you
can afford.
@UXDiane
8

9. My First Study
• Interviewed Participants
• Wrote up observations
• Scheduled a meeting
• Made recommendations
@UXDiane
9

10. My First Study
• Interviewed Participants
• Wrote up observations
• Scheduled a meeting
• Made recommendations
This wasn’t very effective
@UXDiane
10

11. A Better Way
Ask questions
• Who wants this research?
• Why are we testing this?
• Why is this a business goal?
• What answers would inform the development team?
@UXDiane
11

12. A Better Way
Ask questions
• What are the key parts to test?
• What does the perfect participant look like?
• When does the Product Owner need results?
@UXDiane
12

13. A Better Way
• Enlist participants
• Write jargon-free and non-leading interview questions
• Minimize interview questions that have high
cognitive load
@UXDiane
13

14. Observing the User Experience by Kuniavsky
Six phases of an interview:
• Introduction
• Warm-up
• General Issues
• Deep Focus
• Retrospective
• Wrap-up
@UXDiane
14

15. A Better Way
• Pilot test before holding interviews.
• Schedule interviews and invite the Product Team.
• Schedule debriefing meetings directly following the
interview.
• Email the findings to the Product Team.
@UXDiane
15

16. A Better Way
Webster’s definition of Synthesis:
“The composition or combination of parts or elements to
as to form a whole.”
Synthesis is insight from analysis
@UXDiane
16

17. A Recent Example
@UXDiane
• Take notes during the
interview
• Debrief with the team
immediately after the
interview
• Transcribe notes, one
thought per sticky note.
17

18. Usability and Synthesis Workshop
@UXDiane
• Place the sticky notes
into a task analysis.
• Identify trouble spots.
18

19. Sources
• Portigal, Steve. Interviewing Users. Brooklyn. Rosenfeld Media. 2013. Print
• Nielsen, Jakob. “Why You Only Need to Test With Five Users.” Nielsen Norman
Group. http://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-
users/, Accessed 8-26-2015
• Kuniavsky, Mike. Observing the User Experience: A practitioner’s guide to user
research. San Francisco. Elsevier. 2003. Print.
@UXDiane
19

20. Uncover User Insights and Deliver Value
@UXDiane
• Talk with users.
• Invite the Product Team to observe
the interviews.
• Debrief with the Team. Include
everyone’s thoughts.
• Send a synthesized findings doc to
the team to remind them of
their discoveries.
Diane Bowen
UX Practitioner, Covenant Eyes
@UXDiane 20