Understanding how a product will be used is a key skill for software professionals. In the past this knowledge has come from reading requirements documentation and working with others in the development team and the wider business that are responsible for the product design. But is this enough to understand how the product will be used? Mobile users are different. The emotional attachment people have with their mobile devices is far greater than with websites and desktops. Their expectations are greater and it’s far easier to make their voices heard through application store feedback. This presentation will explain the typical ways in which mobile users are different and what we can do in order to understand them better.

1. © Stephen Janaway 2017
UNDERSTANDING
YOUR MOBILE
USER
STEPHEN JANAWAY

2. www.stephenjanaway.co.uk
@stephenjanaway
www.testinginthepub.com
@testinginthepub

4. © Stephen Janaway 2017
This Presentation – Understanding Your Mobile User
• Why Is It Important?
• What Is the Current State of the Mobile World?
• Who Are These Users Anyway?
• What Do They Do?
• What Can We Learn From Them?
• How Can That Help Our Testing?

5. © Stephen Janaway 2017
By Marvel (Based upon a NASA image, see [1].) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

6. © Stephen Janaway 2017

7. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Yet We Are Surprisingly Similar
Source: gs.statcounter.com

8. © Stephen Janaway 2017
What Makes Mobile Testing Different?
• Many platforms.
• Many OS versions in the field.
• Many different hardware configurations.
• Devices have limited memory and processing
capability.
• Many different sorts of users.
• Short, fast paced projects.
• Apps are launched to a large audience.

9. © Stephen Janaway 2017
MOBILE USERS ARE
MORE EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED

10. © Stephen Janaway 2017
QUALITY IS CURRENTLY
STILL NOT GREAT…
AND USERS CAN LEAVE FAST,
VISIBLE FEEDBACK

11. © Stephen Janaway 2017
UNDERSTAND YOUR MOBILE
USER
AND TEST LIKE THEM

12. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Understand Your Mobile User and Test Like Them
• User Persona’s.
• User Profiling.
• Industry Statistics.
• Apps Store Reviews.
• Analytics.
• Use Your Users.

13. © Stephen Janaway 2017
User Persona’s
“Personas are fictional characters created to
represent the different user types that might
use a site, brand, or product in a similar way”.
Alan Cooper

14. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Benefits
•Help us share a specific, consistent understanding
of various groups of users.
•Proposed solutions can be guided by how well they
meet the needs of individual user personas.
•Provide a human "face" so as to focus empathy on
the persons represented by the demographics.

15. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Robert
• Name: Robert
• Age: 32
• Background: Robert is a young, single professional. He works in
software at a cool and trendy East London company. He graduated from
the University of Exeter with a degree in Computer Science. He has just
purchased his first flat. Until recently, he lived with his four roommates in
a shared house.
• Robert doesn’t have a home phone; his mobile phone is his whole world.
This allows him to make and get calls, receive emails and listen to music.
If he doesn’t have his mobile with him, he feels lost. He’s seriously
considering a smart watch and already has a wearable fitness device.
• When a new version of his mobile phone comes out, he immediately gets
the hardware upgrade. He’s always showing his friends the new
applications he can use with his phone.

16. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Robert
• Name: Robert
• Age: 32
• Background: Robert is a young, single professional. He works in
software at a cool and trendy East London company. He graduated from
the University of Exeter with a degree in Computer Science. He has just
purchased his first flat. Until recently, he lived with his four roommates in
a shared house.
• Robert doesn’t have a home phone; his mobile phone is his whole world.
This allows him to make and get calls, receive emails and listen to music.
If he doesn’t have his mobile with him, he feels lost. He’s seriously
considering a smart watch and already has a wearable fitness device.
• When a new version of his mobile phone comes out, he immediately gets
the hardware upgrade. He’s always showing his friends the new
applications he can use with his phone.

17. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Robert
• Name: Robert
• Age: 32
• Background: Robert is a young, single professional. He works in
software at a cool and trendy East London company. He graduated from
the University of Exeter with a degree in Computer Science. He has just
purchased his first flat. Until recently, he lived with his four roommates in
a shared house.
• Robert doesn’t have a home phone; his mobile phone is his whole world.
This allows him to make and get calls, receive emails and listen to music.
If he doesn’t have his mobile with him, he feels lost. He’s seriously
considering a smart watch and already has a wearable fitness device.
• When a new version of his mobile phone comes out, he immediately gets
the hardware upgrade. He’s always showing his friends the new
applications he can use with his phone.

18. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Robert
• Name: Robert
• Age: 32
• Background: Robert is a young, single professional. He works in
software at a cool and trendy East London company. He graduated from
the University of Exeter with a degree in Computer Science. He has just
purchased his first flat. Until recently, he lived with his four roommates in
a shared house.
• Robert doesn’t have a home phone; his mobile phone is his whole world.
This allows him to make and get calls, receive emails and listen to music.
If he doesn’t have his mobile with him, he feels lost. He’s seriously
considering a smart watch and already has a wearable fitness device.
• When a new version of his mobile phone comes out, he immediately gets
the hardware upgrade. He’s always showing his friends the new
applications he can use with his phone.

19. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Robert
• Name: Robert
• Age: 32
• Background: Robert is a young, single professional. He works in software
at a cool and trendy East London company. He graduated from the
University of Exeter with a degree in Computer Science. He has just
purchased his first flat. Until recently, he lived with his four roommates in a
shared house.
• Robert doesn’t have a home phone; his mobile phone is his whole
world. This allows him to make and get calls, receive emails and listen to
music. If he doesn’t have his mobile with him, he feels lost. He’s seriously
considering a smart watch and already has a wearable fitness device.
• When a new version of his mobile phone comes out, he immediately gets
the hardware upgrade. He’s always showing his friends the new
applications he can use with his phone.

20. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Robert
• Name: Robert
• Age: 32
• Background: Robert is a young, single professional. He works in
software at a cool and trendy East London company. He graduated from
the University of Exeter with a degree in Computer Science. He has just
purchased his first flat. Until recently, he lived with his four roommates in
a shared house.
• Robert doesn’t have a home phone; his mobile phone is his whole world.
This allows him to make and get calls, receive emails and listen to music.
If he doesn’t have his mobile with him, he feels lost. He’s seriously
considering a smart watch and already have a wearable fitness device.
• When a new version of his mobile phone comes out, he immediately
gets the hardware upgrade. He’s always showing his friends the new
applications he can use with his phone.

21. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Mobile Devices Are Complicated
• While your application runs,
the phone is:
– Talking to the network.
– Working out where you are.
– Maybe receiving calls, texts,
Facebook and Twitter updates.
= Complicated Test
Scenarios

22. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Mary
• Name: Mary
• Age: 70
• Background: Mary is a retired lecturer. She is married and lives in a small
village in North Yorkshire.
• She primarily uses her mobile phone to keep in touch with friends and
family. However she is more tech savvy than many of her friends, and has
recently started using her mobile device for online shopping. She owns a
laptop and frequently uses it because of screen size. Her eyesight is
deteriorating with age, and she wears glasses for reading and driving.
• To her, a mobile device is a tool and nothing more. She only upgrades on
the advice of her son, preferring to stick with ‘what she knows’.
• Mary lives in an area where the mobile phone reception is variable. Until
recently this was a problem, however her son has recently installed
wireless broadband.
"HappyPensioneer". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia
Commons

23. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Mary
• Name: Mary
• Age: 70
• Background: Mary is a retired lecturer. She is married and lives in a small
village in North Yorkshire.
• She primarily uses her mobile phone to keep in touch with friends and
family. However she is more tech savvy than many of her friends, and has
recently started using her mobile device for online shopping. She owns a
laptop and frequently uses it because of screen size. Her eyesight is
deteriorating with age, and she wears glasses for reading and driving.
• To her, a mobile device is a tool and nothing more. She only upgrades on
the advice of her son, preferring to stick with ‘what she knows’.
• Mary lives in an area where the mobile phone reception is variable. Until
recently this was a problem, however her son has recently installed
wireless broadband.
"HappyPensioneer". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia
Commons

24. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Mary
• Name: Mary
• Age: 70
• Background: Mary is a retired lecturer. She is married and lives in a small
village in North Yorkshire.
• She primarily uses her mobile phone to keep in touch with friends and
family. However she is more tech savvy than many of her friends, and has
recently started using her mobile device for online shopping. She owns a
laptop and frequently uses it because of screen size. Her eyesight is
deteriorating with age, and she wears glasses for reading and driving.
• To her, a mobile device is a tool and nothing more. She only upgrades on
the advice of her son, preferring to stick with ‘what she knows’.
• Mary lives in an area where the mobile phone reception is variable. Until
recently this was a problem, however her son has recently installed
wireless broadband.
"HappyPensioneer". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia
Commons

25. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Mary
• Name: Mary
• Age: 70
• Background: Mary is a retired lecturer. She is married and lives in a
small village in North Yorkshire.
• She primarily uses her mobile phone to keep in touch with friends and
family. However she is more tech savvy than many of her friends, and has
recently started using her mobile device for online shopping. She owns a
laptop and frequently uses it because of screen size. Her eyesight is
deteriorating with age, and she wears glasses for reading and driving.
• To her, a mobile device is a tool and nothing more. She only upgrades on
the advice of her son, preferring to stick with ‘what she knows’.
• Mary lives in an area where the mobile phone reception is variable. Until
recently this was a problem, however her son has recently installed
wireless broadband.
"HappyPensioneer". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia
Commons

26. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Mary
• Name: Mary
• Age: 70
• Background: Mary is a retired lecturer. She is married and lives in a small
village in North Yorkshire.
• She primarily uses her mobile phone to keep in touch with friends and
family. However she is more tech savvy than many of her friends, and has
recently started using her mobile device for online shopping. She
owns a laptop and frequently uses it because of screen size. Her eyesight
is deteriorating with age, and she wears glasses for reading and driving.
• To her, a mobile device is a tool and nothing more. She only upgrades on
the advice of her son, preferring to stick with ‘what she knows’.
• Mary lives in an area where the mobile phone reception is variable. Until
recently this was a problem, however her son has recently installed
wireless broadband.
"HappyPensioneer". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia
Commons

27. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Mary
• Name: Mary
• Age: 70
• Background: Mary is a retired lecturer. She is married and lives in a small
village in North Yorkshire.
• She primarily uses her mobile phone to keep in touch with friends and
family. However she is more tech savvy than many of her friends, and has
recently started using her mobile device for online shopping. She owns a
laptop and frequently uses it because of screen size. Her eyesight is
deteriorating with age, and she wears glasses for reading and driving.
• To her, a mobile device is a tool and nothing more. She only upgrades on
the advice of her son, preferring to stick with ‘what she knows’.
• Mary lives in an area where the mobile phone reception is variable. Until
recently this was a problem, however her son has recently installed
wireless broadband.
"HappyPensioneer". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia
Commons

28. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Mary
• Name: Mary
• Age: 70
• Background: Mary is a retired lecturer. She is married and lives in a small
village in North Yorkshire.
• She primarily uses her mobile phone to keep in touch with friends and
family. However she is more tech savvy than many of her friends, and has
recently started using her mobile device for online shopping. She owns a
laptop and frequently uses it because of screen size. Her eyesight is
deteriorating with age, and she wears glasses for reading and driving.
• To her, a mobile device is a tool and nothing more. She only upgrades
on the advice of her son, preferring to stick with ‘what she knows’.
• Mary lives in an area where the mobile phone reception is variable.
Until recently this was a problem, however her son has recently installed
wireless broadband.
"HappyPensioneer". Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia
Commons

29. © Stephen Janaway 2017
PERSONA’S CAN DRIVE
REQUIREMENTS
BUT THEY CAN ALSO HELP
DRIVE CONVERSATIONS

30. © Stephen Janaway 2017
User Profiles
• Power User.
• Light User.
• Social Networker.

31. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Understand the Market

32. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Use Your Own Data

33. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Understand How People Use Their Devices

34. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Understand When People Use Their Devices

35. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Understand Where People Use Their Devices
Source: gs.statcounter.com

36. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Usability Testing
Image courtesy of userlytics.com

37. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Users Can Tell You What They Want

38. © Stephen Janaway 2017
You Can Start a Dialog

39. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Test Using Users
"2003-09-23 Convenience of a cell phone" by Ildar Sagdejev (Specious) - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 via
Wikimedia Commons

40. © Stephen Janaway 2017
UNDERSTAND YOUR MOBILE
USER
AND DON’T TEST LIKE THEM

41. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Why?
“It's really hard to design products by focus
groups. A lot of times, people don't know what
they want until you show it to them.” - Steve
Jobs

42. © Stephen Janaway 2017
So I Leave You With This…
• Mobile Users Are Different.
• Make friends with your UX team.
• Understand the Market.
• Understand Your Users.
• Use Your Users (both internal and external).
• Test Like Your Users!!
• Don’t Test Like Your Users.

43. © Stephen Janaway 2017
“QUALITY IS VALUE
TO SOME PERSON
WHO MATTERS”
James Bach and Michael Bolton

44. © Stephen Janaway 2017
Questions?
“Be proud, your work will soon
be in the hands of millions”
A NOKIA PRODUCT MANAGER
Stephen Janaway
www.stephenjanaway.co.uk
@stephenjanaway
www.testinginthepub.com