Rocket Surgery Made Easy (Voices That Matter) by Krug Steve

Author:Krug, Steve [Krug, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Riders
Published: 2009-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Obviously this means that you only have 50 minutes for testing. If you want to do longer sessions, you’re going to have to get a little funky with your start times. But always try to leave at least 10–15 minutes of down time between sessions. Don’t make the break too long, though, because observers will end up drifting away to take care of “just one thing” and not come back.

During the break, you should

• Make a few notes. It will all run together, even with three tests.

• Reset the computer. You want to restore everything to the state it was in before the test. Reload your sample data and clear your browsing history .

• Consider making adjustments. Based on what you’ve seen in the previous session, you may decide to make changes to the test on the fly. For instance, if the first participant can’t complete a task and the reason is obvious, you can modify the task—or even skip it—for the remaining participants. You may even want to implement a quick fix to what you’re testing if it’s something you can do by making a simple change to a style sheet or rewording a heading.

Freud would be proud of you

Ever since I started doing usability testing twenty years ago, I’ve been struck by how many of the things a facilitator does with participants are just like the things a therapist does with clients. For instance:

• You’re trying to get them to externalize their thought process. You want to hear what they’re thinking so you can understand what’s confusing and troubling them. Your primary job is to keep ’em talking.

• You’re trying not to influence them. Like a therapist, you need to remain neutral. You can’t tell them what to do; they need to figure it out for themselves.

• You say the same few things over and over. Many of the phrases you’ll use are the same ones therapists use.

• You have ethical responsibilities.

Keep ’em talking

You’ll find that some participants will think aloud with only an occasional reminder. For the people who tend to forget to verbalize their thoughts, though, you have to decide how often you should prompt them.

I used to think that it was a function of how long they’d been quiet: if they hadn’t said anything for 20 seconds (or 30, or 40—I was never quite sure what the right number was), then you’d ask what they were thinking. But I finally realized that it’s something else:

If you’re not entirely sure you know what the user is thinking, ask .

Most of the time when the user is quiet, you’ll still have a pretty good idea of what they’re thinking. For instance if it’s obvious that someone is reading something, you should just let them read. If they’re making progress along a path that makes sense to you and they don’t seem at all confused or hesitant, let them keep going. But as soon as you lose the feeling that you’re certain you know what they’re thinking, it’s time to ask.

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