Martin Braaten Grina
Edge Academy 2016
Usability and Beyond
How to evaluate your product
What does usability mean?
Easy to use
Easy to learn
Efficient
Creates Identity
Prevents errors
One size doesn’t fit all
We’re never alone
We work in
cross-functional teams
Goals and needs
(requirements)
Hypothesises and solutions
(UX designers)
Prototyping / implementation
(UX / developers)
Test / feedback / data
(end-users)
Product Development Process
How we usually work
Lean Startup
Build
MeasureLearn
We minimise the
risk of failing
Design Critique
I am showing [early/mid/late] work
Because [why it’s a problem]
And am looking for feedback around
[specific focus for feedback]
Around [the problem]
“It’s immensely helpful to reiterate
the problem being solved before
showing any work in a critique.”
– Tanner Christensen
Product Designer @ Facebook
Why is user insight
important?
What
For who
How
Why!
“Don’t have time”
“Do we really need that?”
“Way too expensive”
“We have enough data”
“We know that…”
“It’s reasonable to assume that…”
“We expect that…”
User insight protects us
from ourselves
…so we don’t get lost in space
QUANTITATIVE
Interviews
Focus groups
Personas
Field studies
Expert evaluations
Card Sorting
BEHAVIORATTITUDE
QUALITATIVE
Usability testing
Eye Tracking
Accessibility evaluation
Perception analysis
Survey Web analysis
Heat Map
Scroll depth
Listening in
QUANTITATIVE
Interviews
Focus groups
Personas
Field studies
Expert evaluations
Card Sorting
BEHAVIORATTITUDE
QUALITATIVE
Usability testing
Eye Tracking
Accessibility evaluation
Perception analysis
Survey Web analysis
Heat Map
Scroll depth
Listening in
What can you
usability test?
Paper prototypes
Agile Usability Testing
Save time on user-involvement
Guerilla
Quick
and specific
Low budget Informal
Gonzo
Where the
users are
Realistic Quotes
5 second tests
Focuses on
first impressions
Quantitative
approach
Frequent
iterations
Why agile usability testing?
To get answers within the sprint
Why agile usability testing?
Why agile usability testing?
w
ithin
the
sprint
To get answers the same day
Traditional usability testing
takes a week…
Why agile usability testing?
Ain’t nobody got
time for that!
Why test often?
The obvious reasons…
Quality assurance
Prevent errors
Increase the
user experience
The best UI is no UI
“Good design is invisible. Minimum
input, maximum output, with
minimal conscious thought.”
– Oliver Reichenstein
Less obvious reasons
Innovation
Try out new interactions
netlight
Who should experience
usability testing?
netlight
Everyone
netlight
Should be experienced by
the project team
netlight
Designers
Architects
Developers
Project Managers
netlight
Management
Marketing Department
Customer Support
netlight
Again, and again…
Fail fast, fail often
7 reasons why
good usability pays off
Users find what
they’re looking for
High performance rates
among your users
Increased sales
Increased customer
satisfaction (and they’ll
recommend to others)
Increased self-service
Competitive advantage
You avoid losing customers
because your service is
difficult to grasp

Usability and beyond: How to Evaluate Your Product