An introduction to usability and why usability is important to business and organizations.

1. Elizabeth Snowdon
Business / Web Analyst Consultant
eliz.snowdon@gmail.com

2. Why does usability matter
What is usability
Planning a usability test
Types of usability studies
Q&A

3. Senior Business / Web Analyst Consultant
Over 10 years experience in high-technology
companies leading software implementations,
usability testing and web site design projects
Conducting usability tests since 2003
Contact Info
◦ LinkedIn:ca.linkedin.com/in/elizabethsnowdon
◦ Email: eliz.snowdon@gmail.com

5. Usability can save time, money and lives
On the web, usability is a precondition for
survival
On commercial off the shelf software
applications, usability can determine market
share

6. Signs at the time of the March 2, 2007 bus
accident

9. Usability Professionals Association
◦ Is an approach that incorporates direct user
feedback throughout the development cycle in
order to reduce costs and create products and tools
that meet user needs
Steve Krug, author of Don’t Make Me Think
◦ “..making sure that something works well: that a
person of average (or even below average) ability
and experience can use the thing --- for it’s
intended purpose without getting hopelessly
frustrated”

10. Increased productivity
Decreased training and support costs
Increased sales and revenues
Reduced development time and costs
Reduced maintenance costs
Increased customer satisfaction
Source: UPA.org web site

12. Focus on users’ needs, tasks, and goals
Invest in initial research and requirements
◦ Identify your target audience and observe them
◦ Let users define product requirements
Iterative design process
Observe real target users using the system

13. is a technique used to evaluate a product by
testing it on users.
test users will try to complete typical tasks
while observers watch, listen and takes notes.
Goal
◦ identify any usability problems
◦ collect quantitative data on participants'
performance
◦ determine participant's satisfaction with the
product

14. 1. Plan user tests
2. Conduct user tests
3. Analyze findings
4. Present findings
5. Modify and retest designs

15. Purpose
Problem statement/test objectives
User profile
Method (test design)
Task list
Test environment/equipment
Test monitor role
Evaluation measures (data to be collected)
Report contents and presentation
Source: Rubin: "Handbook of Usability Testing", chapter 5

16. Paper prototype
HTML prototype
Live site or application
Competitor’s site or application
Brand new site or application

18. test early and test often
identify problems before they get coded
When validating claims regarding your
product or against competitors

19. during the development of a product
to mould or improve the product
Iterative
Output
Usability problems and suggested fixes
Highlight videos

20. At the end of a development stage
To measure or validate the usability of a product
"How usable is this product"
To compare against competitor products or
usability metrics
To generate data to support marketing claims
about usability
Output
Statistical measures of usability
Reports or white papers

21. Observe user behavior
Listen to user feedback
Facilitator stays quiet, observes, take notes
Test one user at a time
Mainly qualitative

22. Source:
Jakob Nielsen
6-8 users per test or 5 users spread over
multiple tests
little ROI in testing more than 9 users

24. Moderator / Note-taker
◦ Screen sharing: WebEx or web conferencing tool
◦ Recording: Morae, Camtasia
◦ Speakerphone
Participant
◦ High speed internet access
◦ Speakerphone or headset telephone
for more info, go to Remote Testing
Presentation http://bit.ly/7RYwSO

27. Decide what to test
◦ What are your objectives
Recruit users
◦ Who is your target audience?
◦ Write a screener
Write tasks that meet your objectives

28. Understand requirements
◦ What do users want to accomplish?
◦ What does the company want to accomplish?
Determine the goals
◦ What tasks does the web site or application
support?
Decide on the area of focus
◦ Tasks that have the most impact on your site
◦ Typical tasks
◦ Most critical tasks

29. First impression questions
◦ What is your impression of this home page or
application?
Exploratory task
◦ Open-ended / research-oriented
Directed tasks
◦ Specific / answer-oriented

30. Task success
Task time
Errors
Efficiency
◦ Number of steps required to perform a task
Self-reported metrics
◦ Likert scale
◦ Do you prefer A or B?

31. Tullis, Albert (2009), Measuring the User Experience .
Rubin, Jeff (1994), Handbook of Usability Testing.
Usability.gov http://www.usability.gov/
Jakob Nielsen http://www.useit.com/
Usability Professionals Association
http://www.upassoc.org/
Jeff Sauro – Quantitative Usability
http://www.measuringusability.com/calc.php
STC usability site http://www.stcsig.org/usability/
Nielsen, Jakob, and Landauer, Thomas K.: "A mathematical
model of the finding of usability problems," Proceedings of
ACM INTERCHI'93 Conference (Amsterdam, The
Netherlands, 24-29 April 1993), pp. 206-213.

32. Any questions?
Feel free to contact me at
eliz.snowdon@gmail.com if have any further
questions or would like to explore the idea of
setting up a usability test in your
organization.