This document outlines a workshop on grassroots documentation testing. It provides context on the author and their interest in usability testing. The workshop will have participants break into groups to write testing scenarios for sample documentation content. Groups will then test the content and discuss challenges. The whole group will identify the top challenges and brainstorm solutions. Resources on low-budget testing and collaboration are also provided.

1. Kristi Leach WhyTechComm.com @kristil kwritenow@gmail.com Grassroots Documentation Testing

2. Who I am and why this interests me Technical writer specializing in help systems for the past six years (Clearwater, FL and Chicago, IL) Degree in creative writing—my tech comm education has been through STC and tech blogs Gaining experience in usability, analytics, and content planning

3. Who I am and why this interests me Looking for the shortest and cheapest routes to planning and testing content, because that’s all I can get away with. Learning collaboration and right communication—mainly because of challenges I’ve personally had in these areas. Started looking for way to get help when I had trouble testing.

4. Demonstrate and collaborate Rather than telling you what was difficult, we’ll have a sample experience to help us discuss the challenges. But here’s a link to the blog post about my experience: http://whytechcomm.com/tech-comm/testing-documentation-on-co-workers-part-two/

5. Now that we’ve established that I’m not an expert Who do we have in the audience?

6. Please contribute to the blog post after the session. Tell about yourself and your experiences. Challenges and successes. http://whytechcomm.com/stc/grassroots-doc-testing-workshop-sacramento-summary/

7. Order of events: Break into groups. Choose a content packet. Write a scenario. As a whole group, we’ll choose two scenarios. Run the scenarios concurrently—test the content. List the top two challenges your group experienced. Whole groups chooses top three top challenges. Brainstorm solutions for the top challenge.

8. What do we mean by scenario? A set of pretend circumstances and a task to complete using the content.

10. Use case: what task are they performing with the document?

11. What kind of a tester are you looking for? If you run out of time, get random.

12. Who in your group is facilitating?

14. What do we mean by group discussion? Pretty structured. Outside of this, we’ll take it offline. Decide the top two challenges in your small groups. Decide the top three challenges all together. Brainstorm solutions for the top challenge. Discuss solutions for other challenges on the blog.

15. Kristi Leach |WhyTechComm.com | @kristilkwritenow@gmail.com Low-Budget Testing Resources Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug: http://www.sensible.com/rocketsurgery/index.html The Usability and User Experience STC SIG website: http://www.stcsig.org/usability/ Undercover User Experience Design by Cennydd Bowles and James Box: http://undercoverux.com/resources.php Collaboration Resources Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg: NVC website: http://www.cnvc.org/ The Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense by Suzette Haden Elgin. Elgin's website: http://www.adrr.com/aa/ Words that Work in Business by Ike Lasater: http://wordsthatwork.us/site/resources/articles/