qs-tag 2016 simple ways of planning, designing and testing usability of a software product
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Hier soll der Titel reinTesting properly – Testing what matters
www.qs-tag.de
Organisator: imbus AG www.qs-tag.de
Simple Ways of Planning, Designing and Testing Usability of a Software ProductKarolina Zmitrowicz
B!Value
• Who am I?
• Who are you?
• What are we going to speak about?
• What are we going to do?
Agenda
Usability? What is it about?
Usability in our world
Usability is the extent to which a product can be used by certain users to reach specific objectives within a specific context of use with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction.
ISO
Jakob Nielsen:• Learnability• Efficiency• Memorability• Errors• Satisfaction
Usability? What is it about?
Usability in our world
If the user can't use it, it doesn't work. -- Susan Dray
Does it really matter?
Usability in software world
Software development
Waterfall model is not too effective……better to use iterative model.
Software development
• Field studies• Usability test of
the old system• Competitive
studies
Pre-design phase
• Iterative design• Prototyping
Design phase • Collect statistics
and feedback• Refresh/optimize• Redesign
Post-design phase
User involvement – success factor
Not only testing!
PlanDesignValidateOptimize
How to plan and design usability
Plan and design usability
• Do you know your users?• Do you know your application?
• Do you know what users think?• Do you know what users expect?
Plan
You don’t?
Learn about them.
Plan
Forget IT. Think users.
How they act?What they want?
What they expect?
Create UX, not just software.
Design
What is UX?!
Techniques
“Designers are not users.”
Jakob Nielsen
Persona
Starbuck’s persona
Starbuck’s persona
Case study
• Nina Kravitz• Age 35. • Works at XXX Hospital. Not very familiar with IT solutions.• Already registered in our e-com system. • Usage pattern: first reaches the Dashboard and then heads to the
different areas from there.• Wishes: wants to have easy access to her orders and be able to quick
order a new items necessary in her work.
Persona
Customer journey
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/285063851385992052/
Case study
Customer journey
A new item needed
At work Go to the website
Search for the item
See order conditions
Order an item
Wait for information
Item delivered
Item in use
Putting it all together…
What is your target group?What groups of users are there?
What usage patterns exist?What limitiations there are?
Anything else?
Users
Plan requires metrics. Estabilish measurable goals to guide planning, design and test efforts.
Users’ goals
User goal: Browse product offerings and purchase an item.
Poor task: Purchase a detection kit.
Better task: Buy mericon E. coli O157 Detection Kits for under $XX.
Plan requires metrics. Estabilish measurable goals to guide planning, design and test efforts.
Users’ goals
I think we overemphasize metrics when it comes to usability. They often introduce problems in terms of the validity and reliability of the data.
— Mike Hughes
BUT – be careful!
Yes. There are usability requirements.Requirements
All delays in the system longer than 5
seconds will produce a dialog box that
says "Please wait."
It is possible to reach any given system function from the main window in less than 3 clicks.
All buttons in the system will adhere to
established button convention (link to
established button convention regarding
size, naming, position, etc.)
It is possible to accomplish any given
task with just the keyboard, without
the mouse.
Mockups
How to create?
http://pencil.evolus.vn/
Mobile applications
https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/device-mode/
Case study
Remember one rule…
“Consistency is one of the most powerful usability principles:
when things always behave the same, users don't have to worry about what will happen. Instead,
they know what will happen based on earlier experience.”
Jakob Nielsen
Usability testing
Is it possible to execute usability testing in relative easy and cheap way?
There are many professional methods and tools
They are quite expensiveBut there are many tools available for free
Usability testing
• Method used to identify usability issues • How easy it is for new users to accomplish
tasks with the system?
Cognitive walkthrough
Task analysis
Walkthrough
Redesign
• Allows to check usability attributes for a system
• Commonly used for websites• May be based on Nielsen’s heuristics
Evaluation checklist
• Visibility of system• Match between system and the real world• User control and freedom• Consistency and standards• Error prevention• Recognition rather than recall• Flexibility and efficiency of use • Aesthetic and minimalist design • Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors • Help and documentation
Nielsen’s heuristics
Evaluation checklist
Sample application Does the system keep users informed about what is going on (through
appropriate feedback within reasonable time)?
Does the system speak the users’ language?
Evaluation checklist
Sample documentation
Evaluation checklist
Foxit PhantomPDF PDF Document
Foxit PhantomPDF PDF Document
Thinking aloud
http://gpl.cs.nctu.edu.tw/Steve-Lin/EEG623/Icon_CHI2016_slides.pdf
A/B Testing
A/B Testing
Lets evaluate something….
http://www.exmouth-view.co.uk/
• https://www.usability.gov• http://www.usabilitybok.org/• https://www.nngroup.com • https://uxdesign.cc/• https://www.uxpin.com
Some reading
