Stimulating change through usability testing

Abstract

Usability testing is often viewed as a way to improve the usability of products. Testing can, however, have a larger, long-range influence on the way an organization develops its products. As a test specialist, you can use a usability test or set of tests to diagnose such factors as the effectiveness of product design technologies, the technical and managerial skills of the people who produce products, and how well the members of a design team are working together. To make diagnoses at this level, you must keep a focus on the underlying causes of the strengths and weaknesses of the usability of products. To have a long-range impact on the way an organization develops products, usability test specialists need to view themselves as change agents. You must involve designers in test planning and execution, and write reports that speak about the underlying causes of the problems users have with products.