Choosing the right usability technique (Getting the answers you need)

Transcription

1 Choosing the right usability technique (Getting the answers you need) STC Web Seminar: 2 May 2007 Whitney Quesenbery Whitney Interactive Design 2007, Whitney Quesenbery whitneyq@wqusability.com

2 Goals for this seminar How do we make good choices about techniques for user experience and usability? Thinking about usability and what techniques are most used. Understanding the questions that usability can answer Choosing the right technique for a project. Adjusting techniques

3 Thinking about usability What do we mean by usability and what are the techniques we use in current practice?

4 We use the word usability to express concepts at several different levels. 1. A philosophy of designing to meet user needs 2. A quality or characteristic of a product 3. A process, also called user-centered design 4. A set of techniques or activities WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 4

5 Definitions from many different fields overlap. Usability The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve their goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use ISO Document Design The field concerned with creating texts (broadly defined) that integrate words and pictures in ways that help people to achieve their specific goals for using texts at home, school or work Karen Schriver, Dynamics in Document Design WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 5

6 Usability is a toolkit. There is not just one correct way to do usability Picture of a toolbox, with different techniques, such as personas, surveys, expert reviews, summative usability testing coming out of it WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 6

7 Usability activities fit into a user-centered process ISO describes the process in five stages 1. Plan Your project plan should include all UCD steps 2. Understand Start by defining the audience, context of use and other environmental factors 3. Specify Describe the features and success factors for the project 4. Design Create a prototype of the design solution 5. Evaluate Test the design against the specs WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 7

8 Usability testing can be use to meet several goals and techniques. WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 8

9 The 5Es let us think about what aspects of usability are important. Read more about the 5Es of usability on my web site Effective The completeness and accuracy with which users achieve their goals. Efficient The speed (with accuracy) in which users complete their tasks Engaging How pleasant, satisfying or interesting a product is to use Error tolerant The ability of the interface to prevent errors or help users recover from those that occur Easy to learn How well the product supports both initial orientation and deeper learning WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 9

10 What usability techniques do you use? Take a moment to think about all of the usability techniques you have used in the past year. How many different techniques did you use? Which did you use the most? How did you choose each one? If you are yet incorporating usability in your work, what s keeping you from doing so? WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 10

11 A survey of working practitioners reported on the most popular techniques. More than 70% use Informal usability testing Heuristic / expert reviews User interviews UPA Survey of over 1300 people working in usability, information architecture and technical communication 50% - 70% use.. Requirements gathering Personas & user profiles Task analysis Formal lab testing professionals.org/ usability_resources/surveys/2005_upa_salary_ survey.pdf WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 11

12 Less-used techniques tend to be more specialized or to answer more specific questions. 33% - 50% Card sorting Surveys Contextual enquiry Competitive benchmarking Remote usability testing Focus groups Under 33% Analyze web metrics Accessibility reviews Eye tracking WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 12

13 What questions can usability techniques answer? Our ultimate goal is the result of a good user experience but we need to define the goals for each project more specifically?

14 Goals for usability activities might include Learning about the people who use our products Learning about the environment (both the user and business contexts) in which our products are used Understanding the tasks and information that are part of the products Evaluating designs in progress to be sure they met user needs Evaluating the final product for usability WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 14

15 One way to classify usability testing techniques is by the goals for the activity. Learning about people Learning about context and business environment Task and information analysis Evaluating the design and final product Ethnographic research & interviews Personas Market research / focus groups Stakeholder interviews Traffic analysis and support logs Competitive reviews & usability testing Card sorting Task analysis Paper prototyping Iterative testing of prototypes and other formative testing Summative testing Satisfaction surveys WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 15

16 Another is by their most common use in a usercentered design cycle. ISO Human-centred design process WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 16

17 We can use the 5Es to suggest goals for both exploratory and testing techniques Testing or measurement goals Effective Efficient Engaging Error-tolerant Easy to learn Evaluate tasks for how accurately they were completed and how often they produce errors Time tasks with realistic tasks and working versions of the software User satisfaction surveys or emotional analysis Construct task scenarios to create situations with potential problems Control how much instruction is given to test participants, or recruit participants with different levels of knowledge WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 17

18 We can use these dimensions to set goals for both exploratory and testing techniques Research or exploratory goals Effective Efficient Engaging Learn about users own goals Explore how users define success Understand users expectations about the time it will take for both tasks and goals Explore emotions of the user experience Error-tolerant Explore coping strategies Learn what barriers will stop progress towards a goal Easy to learn Learn about prior knowledge Explore willingness to invest in learning WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 18

19 Usability is not a fishing expedition you have to have a goal. To clarify your goals, think about the answers you need to take the next steps in your project. Will customers be able to successfully find and purchase items on our site? How does our product compare to other products that people in our target market might use? What features or information do visitors to our site expect to find? Why are we getting so many technical support calls about configuring our product. Do our explanations of our service help visitors understand what we can do for them? WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 19

20 How do we choose the right technique? Once you know what questions you want to answer, you have to decide what technique is the best match.

21 How much time will you spend with each participant? Shorter Surveys of any kind Card sorting (usually) Diary studies or cultural probes* Usability testing sessions** User or stakeholder interviews Longer Site visits or other user observation Ethnographic research WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 21

22 Are you looking for quantitative or qualitative data More quantitative (more data, more participants) Site traffic analysis Market research Satisfaction surveys Summative testing Card sorting Comparative usability testing Stakeholder interviews More qualitative (deeper data from fewer participants) User observation Iterative testing of early prototypes Ethnographic research WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 22

23 The resources you need for usability technique varies. Some require special equipment Eye tracking Assistive technology for accessibility testing Special cameras for working with mobile devices Rooms with one-way mirrors and AV equipment to allow people to observe usability sessions Some require little more than a notepad Interviews Site visits Card sorting Very informal usability testing WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 23

24 Many can use special tools to make conducting the sessions and analysis easier Portable usability labs for usability sessions (A small camera, microphone and screen recording software, plus software to help you take notes) Data logging and analysis tools (Collect data on participant behavior and organize it for easy analysis) Online card sorting tools (Help automate the analysis) Survey tools (Present the survey and help automate compiling the results) Remote testing tools (Allow you to work with someone in a different location) WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 24

25 Mapping number of users to goals for the usability activity WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 25

26 Adjusting to reality How do we adjust usability techniques to fit our goals, resources and experience?

27 Adjust your techniques to the usability maturity of your company WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 27

28 What if you can t find real users to work with? Look for people who are like users, with similar Expertise Demographics Attitudes Tasks or goals Adjust your analysis to take into account the differences WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 28

29 What if you don t have a usability lab? The situation No lab, no recording system Internal application, used by employees The goal Test the flow of a new process Suggest improvements And have a way to show the results to management. Low Cost Usability Testing by Bob Hurst UPA Voice, February volumes/2005/february/low_cost_usability.html WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 29

30 Brainstorming A few typical scenarios to use to think about how to choose the best techniques

31 Scenario 1 Help solve an unexpected problem with a design. During a design review, a problem has come up because the development system does not support one of the interactions. Several alternative designs have been proposed, but you are not sure which one will be the best. Deadlines are looming! Food for thought: 1. What usability resources do you have easily available? 2. How do you find participants for usability testing? 3. Are the alternatives in prototypes you can use to test the designs? 4. Who needs this decision, and how formal will your report need to be? WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 31

32 Scenario 2 Provide input to a new product version. Your company is planning to launch a service to update an existing service. Marketing wants you to run a focus group to understand how users are using the current service to see how it can be improved. Food for thought: 1. How much time to you have before work begins on the new version? 2. How many different kinds of people use your service? 3. What do you already know about your users: when, where, why and how is the current service used? WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 32

33 Scenario 3 Add usability just before a product launches. A product is about to launch and there has been no usability input. Management is concerned that the product may not succeed and some critical functions are hard to use. Food for thought: 1. What are the most important questions you need to answer? How will you decide on these questions? 2. Is there any opportunity to make changes to the product? 3. Why has there not been any usability work done? WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 33

34 Homework: come up with your own answers to these scenarios Think through three scenarios and make choices about the usability techniques you will use. For each scenario Think of a similar situation from within your own company or projects, or how this scenario might happen. Write down the goals for the usability work, or the questions you need to answer. Identify the factors in your decision. Remember that some of these factors are specific to your situation. List the usability techniques you might use, and the pros and cons of each. Choose the one that is the best balance of resources to meet your goals. WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 34

35 Questions?.

36 Summary The next four slides are a summary of usability techniques we have discussed to: 1. Learn about the people who will use your product 2. Collecting context of use and business needs 3. Analyzing information and tasks 4. Evaluating designs in progress WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 36

37 Techniques for learning about users To... Learn about users in their own context Know their goals and how they work Identify factors in the environment Identify quantitative demographics Document user analysis Use... Site visits (ethnography / contextual inquiry) to observe users in their own setting Scenarios of uses and task analysis to explore and document their workflow Context of use audit to understand their environmental, social and access needs Review (or conduct) market research on product usage, user demographics, etc Create personas to document key aspects of different user groups WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 37

38 Techniques for collecting business data To... Learn about a new business context Find trends or gaps in business process Understand traffic patterns Understand the competition Use... Conduct stakeholder interviews to collect input from different parts of the business Review problem reports from technical / customer support for usability problems Review site logs for patterns of traffic on a web site Conduct a competitive audit or comparative usability test with competitive products WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 38

39 Techniques for analyzing information and tasks For... Understanding how users do their tasks today Learning about relationships between information or tasks Use... Task / workflow analysis techniques to document steps and variations Card sorting to create logical groups users will understand Deciding how to organize the task in the application Exploring different interaction designs Navigation and flow charts that group the interaction steps into screens Paper prototyping and task walkthroughs (with users or personas) WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 39

40 Techniques for evaluating designs in progress For... Team review of a conceptual design Collecting input from colleagues on the design Testing aspects of the design, or reviewing progress Measuring overall success in meeting usability goals Use... Walkthroughs using scenarios and task models Hallway reviews to collect rapid input Usability evaluation with users Summative usability testing with users Satisfaction surveys after release WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 40

41 About Whitney Whitney Quesenbery Whitney Interactive Design p: e: w: Whitney Quesenbery is a user interface designer and usability specialist with a passion for clear communication. She is an expert in developing new concepts for product designs and has produced award winning multimedia products, web sites, and web & software applications. Whitney is past-president of UPA - Usability Professionals Association and is a leader in the STC Usability and User Experience Community. Before she was seduced by a little beige computer into the world of usability, Whitney was a theatrical lighting designer on and off Broadway. The lessons and stories from the theatre stay with her in creating user experiences. WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 41

42 Reading Matter Storytelling and Narrative in The Persona Lifecycle: Keeping People in Mind During Product Design by John Pruitt & Tamara Adlin Morgan Kaufmann Press, 2006 Dimensions of Usability in Content and Complexity eds. Michael Albers, Beth Mazur. Erlbaum, 2003 More articles and publications on my web site: WHITNEY QUESENBERY WQusability.com 42