Slashing Risks with User Experience Engineering (Part 4)

Dmitri is a User Experience (UX) and Interaction Designer in Toronto.

  Agile   Applications Delivery   Information Technology   Quality   Requirements Management   Risk Management   Testing/Test Management  

This is the fourth and final installment in this series on using the latest UX methods for focusing on the right problems and slashing requirements-based risks. In previous articles, we looked at the key UX activities involved in collecting accurate insights, modelling and validating our designs. We then looked at the key differences of modern User Research methods from traditional requirements gathering activities and looked how wireframes can be used for creating live interactive prototypes much quicker. We then looked at the typical pitfalls to avoid.

In this installment, we will be validating designs, using our prototypes for conducting usability tests.

Why Bother with Usability Testing?
Once your prototype is ready, conventional wisdom would dictate that you show it to your business users and ask what they think about it, right? Wrong! If you read Part 2 of this series, you probably remember that people loved both the iPod and Sony's awesome-looking mp3 player--yet it's the iPod that made history. And the way to tell the difference was to watch them loading their vast mp3 collections on these device and making party mixes, rather than just asking them if they liked the device.

So you don't want to ask your business users anything. Just watch them go about their daily tasks. What tasks, you ask? The key, most important tasks that users will spend most …

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