Kyle Soucy
April 9 5:00PM
Over the years, there have been some exciting developments in the way usability
tests are facilitated. During this session we will take a closer look at the
trends in the tools and methodologies used in usability testing and discuss the
benefits and drawbacks of each.
Some of the topics that will be covered include:
- Current Think Aloud (CTA) vs. Retrospective Think Aloud (RTA) Technique
- Remote Usability Testing (with paper and low-fidelity prototypes)
- Unmoderated Testing (“automated” or “asynchronous” remote testing)
- Interview-based Tasks vs. Pre-defined Tasks
- Observer Debriefing
Videos of some of these trends will be included, which should make for an
entertaining learning experience!
April 10 2:45PM
Is your usability testing always attached to a design project? And does
it
require a fair amount of planning, time, and resources to accomplish? Time for
the designer to come up with his business questions and create a few
prototypes; time for the researcher to develop an applicable discussion guide;
time for the moderator to conduct the interviews, create and review the
transcripts, make sense of it all, and finally come out with some solid
findings and recommendations? If so, you’re in the norm. But there’s a
better way that can enable you to get more insight quicker, cheaper, and with
fewer people and headaches.
This talk will describe how, with a little planning and a few innovative
techniques, you can conduct regular, fast-turnaround usability interviews with
a shoestring staff and budget. You can provide timely feedback to
designers,
uncover surprising problems with your site, and capture rich customer quotes
– and do this week after week.
By scheduling regular customer interviews regardless of the project timing, you
can start to condition your designers and project managers to expect to be able
to get customer input whenever they want. And exploring customers’ “native
tasks” can give insights about parts of the site you and your designers would
never even think to ask about. Finally, the unique debrief methodology
will
greatly simplify the analysis process, enabling you to quickly produce Findings
and Recommendations that will be already bought-into by the team.
This talk is aimed at IA’s, Usability professionals, and designers who want
to learn how to get more customer input into their designs without the hassle,
time, and expense of traditional usability interviews.
You will walk away from this talk with a practical plan-of-action and some new
techniques for conducting rapid-turnaround usability testing.