Usability testing - lessons learned
Who said Microsoft didn't do Usability Testing? ...
"One of the great things about developing products at Microsoft is the access to great tools. Usability testing is one of my favorite. Last week, the VSTS team ran a weeklong series of usability tests across the whole product to see what happens when you put regular joes (and janes) in front of the new VS Team System.
Usability labs here are very high tech. One way mirrors, video recorders, machine logging, detailed scripts written and analyzed by human factors specialists. It can be a bit unnerving to be under the microscope like that. I was on the shiny side of that one-way mirror once for a test of XBox Live and it's hard to concentrate when you think someone is watching you mess around looking for how to throw a forward pass in NFL Fever.
We brought in typical project managers from around the greater Puget Sound area. These people all work in the kind of IT Application Development environment we're targeting. Many had 10 or more years of experience and were quite technical.
We had a great turn out from my team. About 15 people including program managers, testers and developers all came out to see what real people thought of their work. It was pretty humbling. All of us wanted to leap through the mirror and shout, “Don't you get it??? What's the matter with you!!“ But, after taking a deep breath, we all know that it's not the users' fault. It just shows us where we have more work to do." continued ... (Via Keith Rowe's WebLog)
"One of the great things about developing products at Microsoft is the access to great tools. Usability testing is one of my favorite. Last week, the VSTS team ran a weeklong series of usability tests across the whole product to see what happens when you put regular joes (and janes) in front of the new VS Team System.
Usability labs here are very high tech. One way mirrors, video recorders, machine logging, detailed scripts written and analyzed by human factors specialists. It can be a bit unnerving to be under the microscope like that. I was on the shiny side of that one-way mirror once for a test of XBox Live and it's hard to concentrate when you think someone is watching you mess around looking for how to throw a forward pass in NFL Fever.
We brought in typical project managers from around the greater Puget Sound area. These people all work in the kind of IT Application Development environment we're targeting. Many had 10 or more years of experience and were quite technical.
We had a great turn out from my team. About 15 people including program managers, testers and developers all came out to see what real people thought of their work. It was pretty humbling. All of us wanted to leap through the mirror and shout, “Don't you get it??? What's the matter with you!!“ But, after taking a deep breath, we all know that it's not the users' fault. It just shows us where we have more work to do." continued ... (Via Keith Rowe's WebLog)
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