by Filip Healy at the Research Thing meetup

1. Active Testing: Real time collaborative analysis

2. About Me…
Filip Healy
Director of Consulting, Amberlight Partners
(M.Sc. Human Computer Interaction, B.Sc. (hons)
Psychology)
I am a UX consultant with 11 years experience
Active member of UXPA
2010 UPA International conference cochair
Conference committee member
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2

3. Part 1: The usual approach to UX analysis

4. Affinity mapping
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5. Locked in a room for 3-5 days!
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6. Excel findings logs: also 2-3 days+
Help to consolidate, categorise and
prioritise research findings

7. Checklist for tracking issues and requirements
Priority level
Total issues
identified
H
M
7
L
8
Req.
3
Positive
12
Total
Next step: Fix remaining issues
3
33

8. Then comes the report: another 2-4 days
Task 1:
Review and change the way your photos are uploaded online
1
h
2
m
l
h
3
m
l
h
4
m
l
h
5
m
l
h
m
l

9. The problem with this…
• Not enough time
• There is no budget
• Constraints compounded if
multiple rounds of testing
• Stakeholder team is not involved
in the analysis process
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10. Part 2: How to cut down the analysis time
One solution…
Active testing:
A rapid way to run and analyse
usability tests and build
stakeholder engagement

11. Active testing step 1
1
Core stakeholders work
together to observe full day
of sessions
• 1 day of testing with 4 – 5 users
• 1 large viewing room where the
team of key stakeholders spend
the day
• 2 UX moderators: one with the
user and one with the
stakeholders

12. Active testing step 2
2
Observations are captured
and coded on small post its
Collaborative note-taking using
printouts of screens and post its

13. It’s like catching butterflies
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14. There’s very little time
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15. There is no time to examine and discuss
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16. Not everything is a catch
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17. Just pick the surprising ones
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18. Active testing step 3
Post its are used to
annotate large
printouts of UI
screens
3
Active testing works best for wireframes, prototypes and when testing the
usability of a discrete number of tasks and functions

19. Tip 1: System to keep findings organised

20. Post it science…

21. Coding observations on the fly
Type
User No.
Reference

22. Observations vs. quotes

23. Tip 2: Don’t rely on your memory

24. Use the right pen
Roller ball (fade proof) pens
write instantly at any angle and
do not smudge.

25. Make it legible!

26. Make it meaningful

27. Active testing step 4
4
Printouts used for
analysis workshop
after sessions
• Review workshop at the end of the day to agree key issues and required
actions
• Can be used repeatedly for rapid design & test iterations

28. Part 3: Summary of key benefits

29. Key principles
Fast turnaround
• Complete cycles in under a week
• 1 day of testing
Multiple iterations
• Low cost
• Feed straight into design
Stakeholder engagement
• All on the same page
• Deep understanding of insights
Focused objectives
• Specific design questions
• Limited use cases screens

30. Thank you…
Filip Healy
filip @amber-light.co.uk
58 Bloomsbury Street
London WC1B 3QT
+44 (0)207 307 7770
www.amber-light.co.uk