LEAN USABIILTY @

PRESENTED AT NYC LEAN STARTUP MEETUP FEB 9, 2010

ANDRES GLUSMAN @glusman ANNA DEYOUNG

OVERVIEW OF USABILITY TESTING AT MEETUP

340 TESTS IN LAST 18 MONTHS

TEST 2-3 DAYS A WEEK

EVERYTHING USER-FACING GETS TESTED

ON PACE TO DO 400+ SESSIONS THIS YEAR SUPPORTING 6-8 PROJECT TEAMS

WILL COST ABOUT AS MUCH AS DOING 4 OUTSOURCED USABILITY PROJECTS

WHY USABILITY TESTING MATTERS

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IS AN ART

THAT INVOLVES MANY PEOPLE

& SUFFERS FROM THE MALKOVICH BIAS

MALKOVICH BIAS THE TENDENCY TO BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE

USES THE WEB LIKE YOU DO

WATCHING PEOPLE USE THE STUFF YOU BUILD IS THE BEST WAY TO CONFRONT THE

MALKOVICH BIAS

HOW WE GOT HERE….

~ FIRST ITERATION ~ DIY TESTING

DIY EXPERIMENT •  RECRUITED OFF OF CRAIGSLIST

•  1 PRODUCT PERSON ENGAGED USERS IN A FEW DIRECTED TASKS THEN SYNTHESIZED FINDINGS INTO A PRESENTATION

VERDICT •  LOW COST

•  LEARNED INTERESTING FINDINGS •  HARD TO REALLY CONVEY USER BEHAVIOR TO REST OF TEAM

•  WE DID NOT MAKE INTO ONGOING ROUTINE

~ SECOND ITERATION ~ PROPOSALS FROM OUTSIDE FIRMS

LOOKED AT FORMAL USABILITY TESTS •  RECEIVED PROPOSALS FROM SEVERAL USABILITY TESTING FIRMS

•  $32K - $53K FOR 2 DAYS (16 TESTS)

•  INVOLVED USE OF TESTING FACILITY •  PROPOSED DELIVERABLE WAS A REPORT/RECOMMENDATION

VERDICT •  HELD OFF

~ THIRD ITERATION ~ ACCIDENTALLY DISCOVERED LEAN USABILITY

“I’LL LET YOU INTO THE BETA PROGRAM IF YOU AGREE TO LET MY TEAM WATCH YOU SET IT UP”

‐CHANCECONVERSATIONTHATSETFOUNDATIONFORCURRENTPROGRAM

Table

Projecteduser’sscreenontowall

user

moderator

developer

developer

developer

compu

ter

CONFERENCEROOMATMEETUP

HEADQUARTERS

“THAT WAS HUMBLING” - A DEVELOPER AFTER THE SESSION

SHIFTED THE CONVERSATION FROM HOW I WOULD USE THE WEBSITE TO HOW THIS

USER USES THE WEBSITE

ACCIDENTAL EXPERIMENT •  USER GOT TO JUMP TO FRONT OF LINE IN BETA PROGRAM IN RETURN

FOR PARTICIPATION •  HELD TEST IN CONFERENCE ROOM WITH PROJECT TEAM IN THE ROOM

•  PROJECTED USER’S SCREEN ON WALL •  INFORMALLY MODERATED USER TO VERBALIZE THOUGHT PROCESS

•  TEAM DISCUSSION AFTER THE SESSION

VERDICT •  LOW COST •  USABILITY ISSUES WERE OBVIOUS TO ENTIRE TEAM

•  REALIZED THIS APPROACH COULD BE POWERFUL

~ FOUTH ITERATION ~ FIGURE OUT A REPLICABLE ROUTINE

HIRED SOMEONE TO TEACH US TO FISH BUT…

FOCUSED ON MINIMUM VIABLE SOLUTION & STRIPPED OUT AS

MUCH COST AS POSSIBLE

HELD SESSION AT MEETUP’S CONFERENCE ROOM AND HAD TEAM

SIT BEHIND THE TESTER

Table

Projecteduser’sscreenontowall

user

moderator

compu

ter

CONFERENCEROOMATMEETUP

HEADQUARTERS

developer

developer

developer

developer

developer

developer

developer

FREAKED OUT TESTERS, BUT WORKED WELL ENOUGH

~ FIFTH ITERATION ~ COMMITTED TO USABILITY TESTING

& MADE IT ROUTINE

•  CTO MANDATED THAT ALL USER-FACING PRODUCT BE TESTED AS PART OF DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

•  PURCHASED SOFTWARE TO HELP SHARE/RECORD SESSIONS

•  TEAMS VIEWED ALL SESSIONS LIVE

•  IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED UP WITH A DISCUSSION

•  NO REPORTS

•  DID OUR OWN RECRUITING OUT OF THE COMMUNITY TO TEST MEMBER EXPERIENCE

•  USED OUTSIDE RECRUITERS TO TEST EXPERIENCE FOR PEOPLE UNFAMILIAR WITH MEETUP

PURCHASED SOFTWARE TO HELP

•  USE MORAE ($1500)

•  PC BASED

•  ALLOWED US TO BROADCAST PICTURE IN PICTURE

•  ALLOWED FOR SESSIONS TO BE RECORDED AND LIVE BROADCASTED TO OTHER ROOM

•  ALLOWED US TO MAKE HIGHLIGHT VIDEOS

•  LOTS OF FUNCTIONALITY (BUT WE ONLY USE A FRACTION OF IT)

Table

Projecteduser’sscreenonwall

developer

developer

developer

developer

developer

developer

DESK

MOD USER

computer

MAINCONFERENCEROOM

SMALLCONFERENCEROOM

~ 6TH THRU NTH ITERATIONS ~ KEEP EXPERIMENTING WITH RECRUITING,

MODERATING, & SHARING

EXPERIMENT WITH COMMANDO TESTING •  TAKE A LAPTOP WITH SILVERBACK SOFTWARE TO A COFFEE SHOP

•  GET PERMISSION FROM THE MANAGER

•  OFFER FANCY CUP OF COFFEE FOR A TEN MINUTE TEST

VERDICT •  CHEAP •  DO NOT NEED TO PLAN AHEAD

•  FEEL LIKE A BAD ASS …UNTIL YOU GET TO THE COFFEE SHOP

•  WASTE A LOT OF TIME WRANGLING PEOPLE

EXPERIMENT WITH SILVERBACK SOFTWARE •  $50 (FREE 30-DAY TRIAL) •  MAC ONLY

•  LIGHTWEIGHT •  EDIT VIDEO USING IMOVIE

•  WE CURRENTLY USE IT FOR COMMANDO TESTING IN THE FIELD AND IPHONE TESTING

VERDICT •  HIGHLY RECOMMEND AS A STARTING POINT,

BUT ONLY TESTS ON MAC OS

OTHER EXPERIMENTS

•  LOW COST RECRUITING (FROM THE BUILDING)

•  SCREENCASTING WITH CHAT (USING DIMDIM)

•  TIVO-IZING / TIME SHIFTING TESTS TO SAVE DEVELOPER’S TIME

TIPS FOR DOING YOUR OWN LEAN USABILITY

9 LEAN USABILITY PRINCIPLES •  LEARN TO LOVE ERROR

•  LOOK FOR BOULDERS IN THE ROAD

•  SUBSTITUTE FREQUENCY FOR PRECISION

•  STRIP OUT COSTS WHEREVER POSSIBLE

•  THINK MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT PROCESS

•  IN RECRUITING, BE PREPARED TO TRADE MONEY FOR TIME

•  BASIC MODERATION TECHNIQUES CAN GO A LONG WAY

•  EXPOSE TEAM TO USERS

•  TAKE NOTES & HAVE DISCUSSIONS (DON’T WRITE REPORTS)

Recruiting DO

1.  Practice with your friends and family

2.  Have 1 person own usability testing for the company

3.  Create a screener listing minimum user requirements – completed over phone or online (guidelines available online)

4.  Consider using a vetted recruiter if you can afford it or for specialized audiences

5.  Allow a week to schedule in-house sessions

6.  Follow up with testers the day before 7.  Offer incentive

DON’T 1.  Rely on the kindness of friends to

volunteer every time you need testing 2.  Use the same tester(s) for different

iterations of the same project

3.  Explain too much about the purpose of the test when recruiting

4.  Bother the participant with too many calls or emails

5.  Be afraid to turn them down if they seem “weird”

6.  Forget to thank them! (They may become evangelists)

Moderating DO

1.  Practice the test ahead of time and write down questions

2.  Create a scenario to test an experience, not just a feature

3.  Be aware of your assumptions beforehand as not to project them on the participant

4.  Spend a few minutes getting to know the participant

5.  Ask general, open-ended questions first and then probe for details

6.  Let participant explain things in their own words and avoid correcting them

DON’T 1.  Start the test before they sign a

consent/release form (example available online)

2.  Forget to remind participant that you are testing the product, not the participant

3.  Answer their questions or explain things about the project to help them along

4.  Use terms from your website or industry jargon when asking questions

5.  Accept just “yes” or “no” for an answer

A few great moderating questions

When first looking at project •  What are you looking at here?

•  What can you do?

As test progresses

•  Show me how you would ____________

•  What do you expect will happen when you _____?

Wrapping up •  What did you find confusing?

•  How would you describe what you did here today?

•  What, if anything you saw today, could you imagine using at home? How?

Sharing DO

1.  Record the sessions 2.  Take notes for immediate

discussion afterward 3.  Debrief with project teams

the same day 4.  Provide notes and video for

those who could not be there

5.  Protect the privacy and dignity of the participant

DON’T

1.  Assume everyone saw the same things you did in a test

2.  Interpret user reactions if you don’t have the data to support it

3.  React too strongly to any single test

4.  Just cherry-pick your pet issues that might have come up

Testing day checklist (office test) 1.  Set up item to be tested 2.  Start recording and sharing processes 3.  Greet participant and bring them to the private testing room 4.  Collect release form, explain test and build rapport 5.  Conduct the test, reminding them to think out loud and try to do things as

if they were using their own computer at home (or work) 6.  Have a channel of communication between tester and remote observers

(chat or text messaging) for emerging questions 7.  If testing multiple projects/scenarios, introduce each one separately, one

after the other 8.  Reserve time at the end to answer questions and explain your product, if

they ask 9.  Thank the participants and provide incentive 10.  Stop recording and sharing processes 11.  Meet with team to discuss what you saw 12.  Adjust test if necessary for next session

Do it!

•  Anyone can run a usability test with the right preparation and attitude

•  There is lots of advice available online •  Learn from mistakes and evolve your methods •  Ask people who have done it before to help you

out •  Team up & test each other