CHAPTER 2

Do a Usability Test Now!

Basic user research is easy, fast, and highly effective. Some forms can
be done with any product.The question is whether you want to do
it yourself. And there’s only one way to find that out: try it. In this
chapter, you will learn a fast and easy user research technique by
doing a usability test with your friends and family. After 15 minutes
of reading and a couple hours of listening, you will have a much
better understanding of your customers and which parts of your
product are difficult to use.
The usability test will tell you whether your audience can use
what you’ve made. It helps identify problems people have with a
specific interface and reveals difficult-to-complete tasks and con-
fusing language. Normally, usability tests are done as part of a larger
research project and involve extensive preparation and analysis.
That’s what Chapters 4 through 16 of this book are about. How-
ever, in the interest of presenting something that’s quick and that
provides good bang for the buck, here are two versions of a friends
and family usability test. It’s designed to let you get almost immediate
feedback on an interface with minimal overhead. If you’re reading
this chapter in the morning, you could be talking to people by the
end of the workday and rethinking some functionality by tomor-
row. But give yourself a day or two to prepare if this is your first
time conducting user research.

11
12  CHAPTER 2  Do a Usability Test Now!

You will need some

representation of an interface
A Nano-usability Test
to take advantage of this
Here’s the nano-size version of a guerrilla usability test. This sum-
technique. A working product
or a semifunctional prototype mary will get you started in less than a minute, not counting the
will be easiest at this stage, time you spend reading this paragraph. Yes, you’ll get closer to a
but you can also ask people “real” usability evaluation with the 15-minute model. But follow
to evaluate a paper sketch.
If you don’t have any these five steps to get an immediate taste of user research:
interface representation   
handy, then it’s a bit too early 1. Find one person who cares about your product. It doesn’t
for you to try this out. You
should use one of the
matter who.
research techniques that will 2. Arrange to watch them use that product. Go to their house;
help you start designing, meet at a café; use screen sharing. It doesn’t really matter, as
such as interviews or a site
long as you can clearly see what they’re doing.
visit. These are discussed in
Chapters 6 and 9 of the 3. Ask them to use the product to do something they care about:
book, respectively. contact a friend; cook dinner; buy something. Whatever.
But if you just want to try 4. Final step: watch them do it. Don’t ask questions. Don’t tell
out this technique and don’t
need it to apply to your own them what to do. Don’t say anything. Just watch.
work immediately, you can 5. Ask yourself: what did you learn?
use any interface that’s   
already familiar to you—
whether a website, a kiosk, or
And…you’re done!
an appliance. You may be wondering: that’s it? That’s all there is to usability?
Why do consultancies charge so much money for it, then? Actually,
no.There’s a lot more science, craft, and art to usability than we can
get across in under a minute. But usability isn’t brain surgery, and
it’s important to realize that anyone can start practicing the basics
in under a minute.

A Micro-usability Test
The micro-usability test, which we’ll explain below, is closer to
what a full-fledged usability evaluation would look like. Try this
after trying the nano-usability test, or if you’ve got some more time
to spare. It’ll still take you less than 15 minutes to figure it out.
There are four major steps in the process of conducting a
usability test.
  
1. Define the audience and their goals.
2. Create tasks that address those goals.
 A Micro-usability Test  13

3 . Get the right people.

4. Watch them try to perform the tasks.

Define the Audience and Their Goals

An evaluation always proceeds from ‘why does this thing exist?’
Dave Hendry, Associate Professor, University of  Washington Information
School

You are making something for some reason. You have decided
that some people in the world can make their lives better with your
idea. Maybe it helps them buy something cheaper. Maybe it’s to get
them information they wouldn’t have otherwise. Maybe it helps
them connect with other people. Maybe it entertains them.
Regardless, you are making something that you feel a specific
group of people will find valuable. For them to get that value,
there’s something they have to do. Usually, it’s several things. For a
website selling something, it can be “Find the widget, buy it, and
subscribe to the newsletter.” For a matchmaking site, it can be
“Find someone interesting, write him a note, and send it.”
So the first thing you should do in a usability test is to figure
out whom the site is for. What nouns and adjectives describe the
people who you expect will use it most often? What differentiates
them from everyone else? Is it their age, their interests, their prob-
lems? It’s probably all of the above, and more.
For example, say that you want to examine the usability of the
browsing and purchasing user experience of an online cutlery store.
You can quickly create an audience definition for the site’s audience.

People who want to buy cutlery.

But this isn’t very specific. My grandmother regularly buys plas-

tic forks for family picnics, but she’s not going to be doing it through
a website. So the definition should have a little more detail.

The target user audience are people who

• Want to buy high-end cutlery
• Are value conscious
14  CHAPTER 2  Do a Usability Test Now!

• Want a broad selection

• Shop online
• Are not professional cutlery buyers

Next, figure out what the key product features are.Write down
what your product is about. Why are people going to use it? Why
is it valuable to its users? If you were at a loud party and had
30 seconds to describe your site to someone who had never heard
of it, what you would tell them? Write it down.

forkopolis.com enables people all over North America to buy cutlery from one of
the largest ranges available, featuring all the major luxury brands and the best
designers. It allows for easy location of specific styles and pieces so that buyers
can quickly and cheaply replace a single damaged teaspoon or buy a whole
restaurant’s worth of silverware.

Create Tasks That Address Those Goals

Now write down the five most important functions of the site.
What should people be able to do above all else? In a sales site, they
should obviously be able to purchase things. But they should also
be able to find them, whether or not they know exactly what
they’re trying to buy. Furthermore, they should probably be able to
find what’s on sale and what’s an especially good value. Make a list,
describing each function with a sentence or two.

Find specific items by style.

Buy by single item.
Buy by whole setting.
Find special offers.
Find information on returning merchandise.

In a couple of sentences describe a situation where someone

would perform that function, written from his or her perspective.
Call this a task. If “Find specific items by style” is one of the func-
tions, a task for it would be the following:

You decided that you want to buy a set of Louis XIV forks from forkopolis.com.
Starting from the homepage of forkopolis, find a set of Louis XIV forks.
 A Micro-usability Test  15

Finally, order the tasks from the easiest to the hardest. Starting
with an easy task makes people comfortable with the product and
the process.

Get the Right People

Now, find some people who fit the profile you created in step 1.
When doing a quick exercise like this, you can get a decent idea of
the kinds of problems and misunderstandings that occur with real
users by bringing in five or six people who resemble the people you
expect will be interested in your product.The fastest way to get such
people is through the people you already know. If you’re in a large
company, this could be co-workers from departments that have noth-
ing to do with your product. If you’re in a small company, this can be
your friends and family and your co-workers’ friends and families. It
can be people from the office down the hall. It can be people off the
street. As long as they’re somewhat like the people you expect to visit
your site, it can be anybody who is unfamiliar with the product and
unbiased toward it (so a doting grandmother and the CEO of your
biggest competitor are probably excluded). Unless your product is
designed for developers, avoid people who design or market digital
products and services for a living: they know too much.
Contact these people, telling them that you’d like to have them
help you evaluate the effectiveness of a product you’re working on.
Don’t tell them any more about it than the short description you
wrote at the top of the task list. Tell them that no preparation is
needed, that they should just come in. Schedule them a day or two
in advance for half-hour individual interviews, leaving 15 minutes
in between each interview.

Watch Them Try to Perform the Tasks

First, write a script that you and your invited evaluators will follow.
Put your short site description at the top of the page. This will be
all that the evaluators will be told about your product. Don’t tell
them anything else. In the real world, a short description and a link
are often all that someone will know. On separate pages, write
down your tasks, one per page. Don’t include any information that
users wouldn’t have if they had just started using the service.
16  CHAPTER 2  Do a Usability Test Now!

Now find a quiet place where you and the evaluators can talk
about the product without being distracted. Small, out-of-the-way
conference rooms often work well. Make sure that there is nothing
related to the product around, so as not to distract the evaluators or
provide information that could be confusing. Thus, no notes, no
company propaganda posters, no whiteboard leftovers, and no
tradeshow mouse pads.
Set up whatever device you’re using for the tasks. For example, if
you’re using a web browser, set it up in the most generic configuration
possible, removing custom toolbars, custom colors, display options, and
extraneous bookmarks. Bookmark or otherwise mark the initial pages
or locations evaluators are going to need for each of the scenarios
you’ve written.You might even want to create a new user account for
the test so that your own settings don’t confuse the participant. If
you’re using paper sketches, make sure they’re well-organized.
When each participant arrives, prepare him or her for what’s
going to happen. Make the participants feel comfortable. Introduce
the process by saying something like:
  
• You’ve been invited to help us understand which parts of the
product work for you and which are confusing.
• Even though we’re calling this activity a usability test, you’re
not being tested. The product is. There’s nothing you can do
wrong. It’s not your fault if you can’t get something to work,
and you won’t hurt anyone’s feelings if you say something
bad about the product.
• It’s really important that you speak all of your thoughts aloud.
Think of it like a “play-by-play” description of what you’re
doing and why you’re doing it.
• I’ll stay in the same room and quietly take notes, but you
should ignore me. Just focus on describing what you’re
doing.
  
You’ll probably want to write a script that has all these points in
it, but don’t stick to the script when you’re talking with partici-
pants.You’ll sound stiff and uncomfortable. Instead, practice it ahead
of time so that you feel—and sound—conversational and friendly.
Once the participants are comfortable and you’ve given them
the initial instructions, read the product description and the sheets
 What Did You Learn?  17

with the task descriptions. Tell them to do the tasks in the best
way they can, but if they can’t figure one out in a couple of min-
utes, they should feel free to move on to the next task. Reinforce
that they should be speaking aloud the whole time.
Then, let them talk. Sit back and watch, quietly taking notes. If
they get stuck, don’t tell them where to click or what to look at.
No matter what, don’t tell them how to do something. If they seem
to be particularly frustrated, tell them that it’s not their fault if
something seems impossible, and they should move on to the next
task.You may have to remind them to keep talking.
Once all the tasks have been completed, or the half hour is
over, it’s time to stop. Ask the participants to tell you their general
impression and whether they would use the site in “real life.”
Then give them a present for their time (a gift certificate to a
local restaurant or a bookstore, a coupon for lunch at the com-
pany cafeteria, a tank of gas—whatever seems appropriate for
your audience), thank them, and send them on their way. Your
co-workers probably don’t need anything but a promise to help
them out later.
Finally, reset the device for the next participant. If you’re using
a web browser, be sure to clear the cache and history and set it to a
blank page.

What Did You Learn?

As soon as the usability test is over, ask yourself the following
questions:
  
• What worked well? What didn’t?
• Did the users consistently misunderstand anything? If so,
what?
• Were there any consistent mistakes? If so, what?
• Did they do what you expected them to do? If not, what did
they do?
• Did they do things in the order in which you had expected?
If not, what order did they do them in?
• What did they find interesting?
18  CHAPTER 2  Do a Usability Test Now!

• What did you expect them to find interesting that they did
not find interesting? And vice versa: what did you expect
them to ignore that they found fascinating?
• Did they know what the product was for? Did they miss any
big ideas?
• How many of the tasks were they able to do? Which ones
gave them trouble?
• When did they look frustrated? Confused? What were they
doing?
• Did the site meet their expectations? If not, where did it fail
them?
• Do you know what their expectations were?
  
Friends and family usability At this point, you should have some ideas of where your prod-
testing is fast, easy, and uct has problems. You’ve probably seen several things come up
convenient, but it’s only a
again and again. Maybe people don’t understand the name you’ve
quick and dirty technique.
Your friends and family may given to a certain function. Maybe they don’t see a critical idea.
give you a general idea of Maybe they aren’t interested in what’s being offered. Maybe they
the problems with your love it and it fulfills everything they want. All these things are good
product, but (more often
than not) they’re not to know, since they tell you where you are having problems and,
representatives of your equally important, where you’re not.
actual user audience. Now that you have a sense of how outsiders view your prod-
Whenever possible, use
participants who are more
uct, you can begin to think about what that data means for your
representative of your relationships inside your organization.
audience.   
• Did you confirm the existence of a problem you suspected?
What do you need to do to fix the problem?
• Did something you learned contradict your beliefs about the
product? Is anyone in your organization making decisions
based on those same beliefs? Do you need to communicate
that new learning to other people? How might you investi-
gate that belief further, and what resources would you need?
• Did something puzzle you? Who can you work with to
figure out what’s going on and how to respond to it?
  
 What to Do Next  19

What to Do Next
With a first usability test completed, you probably have an idea of
what the technique is good for and how it’s useful to you. If you
read Chapters 3 and 4, you should be able to put together a research
plan for your product, incorporating discount usability testing
(which the friends and family usability test is an example of) and a
number of other techniques. The in-depth techniques described in
Chapters 5 through 16 will tell you how to go far beyond this basic
test. Finally, Chapters 17 through 19 will help you present your
findings in a way that convinces development teams, clients, and
other stakeholders to make the changes that will make your prod-
uct or service really work for your audience, and to keep directing
it toward users’ activities, values, and aspirations well into the future.