A talk from Agile Roots in 2010. You can't get the whole picture or much context from the slides. The last part of the talk was referring to how you'll be remembered and your legacy in a social-media-based world. It would be unfortunate if your last status update was the one that you see in the facebook wall post. Video from the talk will be posted later.

1. Discount
Usability
Testing
for agile teams

2. Ben Carey
By day
exp
er im e
nts
@bencarey

3. A Story

11. The simplest thing that could
possibly work.

12. “
There is a big difference between the
expertise required to be a designer &
that required to be a user. In their work,
designers often become experts with the
device they are designing. Users are
often experts at the task they are trying
to perform on the device.
- Don Norman, DOET

13. POV

15. BENEFIT

16. Our Users

17. 1. Why?

18. 1.1 It Helps

19. Having usable software is kinda
like having edible food.

20. Welcome to basecamp.

21. EFFORT EFFECT

23. 1.2 Find Empathy

24. EMPATHY

26. FTM
RTFM

27. I Them Him
self stereotypes real people

28. what is a browser?

29. 1.3 Stop Guessing

30. Seek real feedback and high-
bandwidth information through
observation.

32. 2 Anatomy

33. 2.1 Instruction

34. A few tasks
A few users
A few observers
A few beers

36. A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card
A Story Card

37. Cadence
Facilitating
Testing
Observing

38. You’re not limited to just
testing the software.

39. 2.2 A Demo

41. 2.3 Exercise

42. Finding what you should test.
5 - 10 things

43. Discount Testing Exercise

44. Group Debrief

45. 3 Where Next?

46. 3.1 Iterating

47. WTF?
(happened to iteration)

48. “
... even though a piece of duct
tape covering a hole in your pants
migh not be pretty, it’s still better
than a hole. - Steve Krug, Rocket Surgery Made Easy

49. Do the minimum that you can
to fix the problems.

50. Tweaks cost less.
Tweaks require less work.
Tweaks don’t ruin lives or break up families.
Small changes can be made sooner.
Small changes are more likely to actually happen.
Tweaks are less likely to break a bunch of stuff.
Most people don’t like change, redesigns annoy them.
Tweaks aren’t as risky.
Tweaks don’t require a lot of meetings.
from Rocket Surgery Made Easy

52. 3.1 Buy-In

53. You don’t need buy-in.

54. #1 Frame it as an experiment

55. #2 Minimal cost

56. #3 Disproportional returns
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

57. POV

58. Stop building stuff that sucks.

59. SAS

60. A few people to test
A few people to observe
Debrief observations

61. Benefit

62. Our Users

67. Thank You!
Ben Carey
thesherpaproject.com
@bencarey

68. team room: lachlanhardy (flickr)
corbin sign: jstephenconn (flickr)
discount testing: jenniferconley (iliveindallas.com)
empathy: b0xman (flickr)
big mac: pixelden (flickr)
basecamp: ilker (flickr)
tied up finger: mkmabus (flickr)
lots of paperwork: unk’s dump truck (flickr)
peek: mkambus (flickr)
paper prototype: cesarastudillo (flickr)
Attribution
iTunes cards: yum9me (flickr)
pizza & beer: add1sun (flickr)
duct tape: andrwj (flickr)
spare change: essgee (flickr)
beakers: femgeek (flickr)
trust me: mkambus (flickr)