Introductory slides to a collaborative usability observation & issue prioritisation session. A training and service promotion workshop for the University of Edinburgh Website Programme.

1. Collaborative usability
Making user research &
prioritisation a shared experience
Neil Allison
UX Manager
May 2016

2. Hands up…
• If you’ve ever conducted a usability test
• If you’ve ever watched a usability test
• If all this is totally new to you

3. Usability testing
It’s easy, right?

4. What’s challenging
• Getting the go ahead to use
your time on usability testing
• Getting colleagues to take on board
what you uncover
• Getting fixes to problems implemented
(Why usability problems go unfixed: http://bit.ly/LvrGoq)

5. Why are we here?
• An easy-to-execute technique to get your
stakeholders closer to your users
• A process that objectively prioritises
the issues that you all see
• A showcase for the new
Usability Testing Service

6. Usability testing service
• Pilot service in operation til August 2016
– Help you plan research
– Recruit participants
– Run testing sessions & report
– Run stakeholder events for
maximum impact
• Mobile, tablet & desktop
recording

7. UX & usability consultancy services
• Digital strategy: Work out what you’re trying to do
collaboratively & establish metrics
• Personas & experience mapping: Express your goals in
a user-centred way that everyone understands
• Requirements checking & prototyping: Make sure
you’re on the right path before investing heavily
• Training & mentoring: Empower your team to embed
UX techniques into every project

8. Get in touch
Let’s discuss your requirements
usability@ed.ac.uk

9. So what do we do?
1. Get the right people in a room
2. Watch a small number of short sessions
with users doing something
3. Prioritise the issues they see
4. Collaboratively consolidate their priority lists
5. Agree actions for usability issues
6. Repeat every few weeks

10. Who are the right people?
• Everyone with a stake in
the product
– No exceptions
http://bit.ly/1I1lZfQ
“Have you had your
recommended dose
of research?”

11. What do we watch?
• Real users
doing real tasks
• Facilitated usability
testing sessions
• Agree the focus of
testing within the
team
“Research shows that teams
make better services when
everyone on a project team
observes users first hand.”
http://bit.ly/1I1rlYI

12. How many do we watch?
“The most striking truth of the curve is that
zero users give zero insights.”
• As many as you can fit into the time you have
(so probably not very many)
http://bit.ly/1vQ7eHD

13. How do we prioritise?
“Running a usability test has been compared
with taking a drink from a fire hydrant…”
• Rocket Surgery template:
1. Individual notes while observing
2. Distil to 3 issues after each participant

15. How do we consolidate?
“If you prioritise usability problems using
'gut feel' or intuition, you run the risk
of being exposed as a fraud…”
http://bit.ly/1I1mCWW

17. Now let’s try it together…
• 3 participants
– 5-10 minute break between each to review notes and
prioritise top 3 issues
• On your table consolidate your issues into a
master list
– Use flowchart to propose severity
• Once round the room to feed issues & priority
back to the EdWeb development team

18. Then what?
• Usability issues prioritised, not solutions
• Agree actions based on:
– Is the solution “obvious”?
– Is there an easy development solution?
– Is there an alternative to development?

19. Minor
issue for
users
Major
issue for
users
Easy
solution
available
No easy
solution
available
Prioritisation matrix

20. Top tips
• Participants
– A pool of volunteers really helps recruitment
– Krug – “Recruit loosely, grade on a curve”
– Reminders the day before
– Have an emergency stand-in prepared
• Do whatever it takes to get observers in the room
– Start over lunch break
– Supply refreshments
– Bribery, favours, threats…
• Be well organised so you don’t waste anyone’s time
– Test everything before hand
• Stick to the process and schedule (particularly in the final recap)
– It’s easy to digress when you’ve all seen so much
• Encourage collective reflection on the session
– Admitting usefulness is first step to getting observers to turn up next time
– Have the next one scheduled ASAP

21. Everything you need
• Steve Krug’s Rocket Surgery resources:
http://bit.ly/1I1muXo
• David Travis’ prioritisation flowchart
http://bit.ly/1I1mCWW

22. Usability testing service
• Pilot service in operation til August 2016
– Help you plan research
– Recruit participants
– Run testing sessions & report
– Run stakeholder events for maximum impact
• Mobile, tablet & desktop recording
• Get in touch to discuss requirements
– usability@ed.ac.uk

23. Thank you
Questions?
Neil.Allison@ed.ac.uk
UX Manager
Twitter: @usabilityed