He wants others to ask as well, just as much as he does. On testing day, you do three tests in the morning and then debrief over lunch. If you have other people who do testing for you, id definitely recommend reading it. During a moderated test, you are live, on the line with your test participants, guiding them through the tasks, answering their questions, and replying to their feedback in real time. Take a gander at steve krugs book rocket surgery made easy on usability testing to learn more about the finer points of usability testing. Usability testing tools popular usability testing software. For this first meetup in a while well have not one, but 2 speakers. Write a scenario that reflects your websites purpose.
Following the success of his first book on web usability, dont make me think, steve taught workshops for businesses and organizations to instruct them in how to implement the ideas in the book. The doityourself guide to finding and fixing usability problems book. User research seeks the answers to these questions. He covers variations in the process, whether you are leading testing in the same room as the participant or by remote access. The power of the rocket surgery approach to usability testing is that it focuses on the broad user experience.
In fact, i wrote rocket surgery because i know from years of experience that valuable, effective usability tests can be done quickly and easily, with little or no cost. Lastly, you might want to check out steve krugs rocket surgery made easy, which is a goto in the usability world. Rocket surgery made easy for diy usability testing. Steve recently joined us to talk about the latest version of his book, dont make me think. If the print book includes a cdrom, this content is not included within the ebook version. Its been known for years that usability testing can dram. The first part is called finding usability problems. When you moderate a test, youre right in the thick of things with the very people who use your product. The authors aim for this book isnt to turn you into a usability testing expert, its to teach developers how to conduct their own small tests that will. How our product design team conducts usability tests every 2 weeks. Rocket surgery made easy, the doityourself guide to finding and fixing usability.
About a month ago, newman wrote a post titled 4 points of wisdom from steve krugs rocket surgery made easy. Instead, the book used rocket surgery as a metaphor for the mythically expensive, complex usability testing process, which krug has broken down and reconstituted as simple, cheap yet incredibly effective user testing methodology. Well show you how to get the maximum out of guerrilla usability testing a lean and agile approach to user research which doesnt break the bank. How to conduct usability testing from start to finish. Steve and nancy chat about whats new with mobile and the difference between mobile and desktop usability testing. Steve krug outlines all of the steps, from preparation to execution. I, michael parker, own this book and took these notes to further my own learning. Unmoderated user testing is another way to test, where you specify your website, the tasks you want the users to do, and get back video recordings of people trying to accomplish those tasks. Pdf rocket surgery made easy by steve krug free downlaod publisher. Steve krugs rocket surgery made easy is an engaging, pragmatic, and quick read from an experienced expert in web usability. Now its my turn to go through rocket surgery made easy and i have 4 more points of wisdom that i learned from reading through the book. Watching this video is exactly the experience a remote usability testing observer experiences when observing remote usability tests. This perception is made worse by the posts you read on usability testing.
Ive built on the rocket surgery technique over the years, but my research repertoire hasnt grown far beyond usability testing. After 14 years, i finally updated the book thats become almost everyones introduction to web usability 500,000 copies in 20 languages. Steve krug is the master of diy usability testing and if youre keen on learning more about it, i recommend you read his books dont make me think and rocket surgery made easy. A facilitator asks questions and presents tasks to help the user identify the few most significant usability issues, which are then hopefully fixed before the next test session. This is a post by kate saunderson, one of our user researchers. Usability testing refers to evaluating a product or service by testing it.
That is the question that steve krug, author of dont make me think and rocket surgery made easy continually asks. Its been known for years that usability testing can dramatically improve products. Written by user research professionals, these articles emphasise doing things to the highest standard to ensure the best results. The doityourself guide to finding and fixing usability problems.
In a typical usability test or contextual interview, users act. He was reading the book and wanted to share his insights. If the test is moderated, however, the moderator can lead the tester back in the right direction and get the test on track again. Rocket surgery is a howto book that shows you how to do your own simple, fast, effective usability tests. Rocket surgery made easy is an excellent resource for anyone who facilitates usability testing.
How a complete novice learned user testing in 10 minutes. Rocket surgery made easy by steve krug a morning a month, thats all we ask. Accessibility user testing typically does just the. It is used to identify instances of inaccessibility poor alt text here and a missing label there. Test participants, usability evaluation, user interface design. When i think of user testing, i think of trying to make a website better. Peachpit and new riders publisher nancy ruenzel interviews steve krug, bestselling author of dont make me think and rocket surgery made easy. Its a short 168 page instruction manual for performing user tests on websites. How our product design team conducts usability tests every. The site has a huge library of templates and resources, including consent forms, report templates, and sample emails. Remote moderated usability testing is an adventure. Following the success of his first book on web usability, dont make me think, steve taught workshops for businesses. Hearing an interview with adps head of user experience research, jesse zolna felt like another rocket surgery moment for me.
Usability testing,on the other hand, is conducted to ensure that the solution is easy and intuitive for actual end users. Its a short 168 page instruction manual for performing usertests on websites. As a result, you are able to watch and listen to them and draw conclusions from that. Basically, it amounts to doing a round of testing once a month, with three users so three separate usability tests each with a different user. And if youre a regular reader, you know that led us on a week long journey exploring how entropy is related to web design and user testing. Usability testing is the single most valuable action you can take to improve the customer experience of your website or web application. Accessibility user testing typically does just the opposite. While the first book focused on design, this new book is all about testing. He covers variations in the process, whether you are leading testing in the same room as. What is the difference between user testing and user. Affordable ux research tips and alternatives ux planet. Usability testing is a critical part of the usercentered design process because it allows you to see whats working and whats not with your designs.
If you enjoy these notes, please purchase the book pg 8. Steve krug is the author of dont make me think and rocket surgery made easy. It never occurs to me that im trying to prove something. Advanced common sense sm is the online home of web usability consultant and author steve krug the books. Im probably not going to be doing any usability testing myself. If youre considering qualitative studies, or want to do them but are stopped by budget constraints, this is a great introduction to the. Usability testing is not the same as user acceptance testing uat, which focuses on making sure the solution works as defined in the requirements. Nielson norman group also has some great resources including a great selector for online tools for unmoderated and remote usability testing. Ux for the masses has a great overview of usability testing hints, tips, and guidelines. Usability testing and ab testing can be conducted on a tight budget, provided you plan ahead. I now feel empowered to push beyond usability testing. Challenge yourself to get more out of your sessions by using at least one new idea from this article during your next or first round of testing. Usability testing is used to observe usually firsttime users of your application or visitors of your website in order to improve the usability and user experience of your projects. Heres an actual email i sent to help a colleague who needed to do some user testing but had no experience in doing so and didnt know where to start.
This page lists some of the best resources available to help you get started with your own usability tests. If dont make me think convinced you that you should be doing usability tests, this book tells you. What steve krug taught me about usability testing and rocket surgery. From that one email, she was able to pull together a ton of insights and give feedback to the development agency that resulted in significant usability improvements. Small, informal, doityourself usability testing is also called discount usability testing. At the time, i was immersed in the james gleick book the information. The doit yourself guide to finding and fixing usability problems. The doityourself guide to finding and fixing usability problems krug, steve on. And if youre a regular reader, you know that led us. How i survived and loved rocket surgeryhow i survived. Watch the usability guru and celebrated author of dont make me think and rocket surgery made easy conduct a usability test. Rocket surgery explains everything you need to know to start testing, in the same nontechnicalbutinformative style as dont make me think. Usability testing is the most critical thing we can do when designing a user interface. Andy morris will explain us how hes organising ux in the short development cycles forced by agile methods, and steve krug will talk remotely, from boston about how andy and his team have practiced and built on the usability testing method he described in his book rocket surgery made easy.
Before we get to the test itself, here are a few things to note. The doityourself guide to finding and fixing usability problems is essentially a companion book to his first, very successful book on usability dont make me think. Weve been holding monthly sessions of streamlined product testing based on the discount method described by industry leader steve krug in his book, rocket surgery made easy. Hosted by user experience community of practice and digitalgov.
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