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September 6, 1999

Put Flawed Software To The Test

Illustration by Dennis Harms ust as software bugs are eliminated through unit-test and other quality-assurance procedures, design flaws are detected and solved through usability-testing procedures.

Usability tests are useful at several points in the design process. It is not necessary to have working software--in fact, good results can be obtained using simple paper prototypes.

There are several ways to set up a usability test. Many companies have formal usability labs with one-way mirrors and remote-control video equipment, but quality testing can be performed in far more informal settings.

Generally, useful results can be obtained with four to six users. Before the test, decide what you want to learn and construct tasks for the users. Don't try to cover everything; just select a few key tasks. For example, if you were testing a word processor, your task list might be:

Create a new document;

Build a header with date and page number;

Create two columns in newspaper style;

Import a file from c:\testfile into the columns;

Correct any spelling errors;

You can present the tasks to the user on a set of index cards. Don't coach the user and don't intervene unless the user is really stuck. And if you don't have a one-way mirror, limit the number of developers watching. A crowd of people staring at you can be really unnerving.

Observe carefully and note places where the user is confused or makes errors. These are design problems that must be resolved.

Want to learn more? A good place to start is with one of the following books: A Practical Guide to Usability Testing by Joseph S. Dumas and Janice C. Redish (Intellect, 1993) and Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design, and Conduct Effective Tests by Jeffrey Rubin (John Wiley & Sons, 1994).

Also contact the Usability Professionals Association at www.upassoc.org for information on usability testing and interaction design.

More companies and government organizations are integrating usability testing into their software development process. Recently, representatives from 39 companies met at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in an effort to define usability-testing standards for industry. Check out its Web site at www.nist.gov/iusr.

Charles Kreitzberg is president of Cognetics Corp., an interaction-design company in Princeton Junction, N.J. He can be reached at charlie@cognetics.com.

Return to main story, "New Mantra: Usability"

Illustration by Dennis Harms

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