ABSTRACT
Everybody now realizes the value of usability testing. Yeah yeah. But when they do, here’s why. We usability test to:
• Act as a meeting point between the users, the developers, and the usability (HF/HCI) staff • Clarify notions of usability with respect to this product (to feedback to developers early) • Discover what use is being made of the system now • Reduce the cost of support (one useful driver is the cost of each problem per user/month) • Find out what objectives the users currently have (and how the availability of the system may
change them) • Minimize the possibility that users will simply refuse to use the system (Aka
acquiring competitive edge
) • Prioritize system testing better • See what performance means to users • Provide training feedback • Create a database of usability attributes against which you can judge future releases
Early usability testing requires some form of representation of the final product (usually in the form of a model or prototype) and relies on modeling or rapid prototyping techniques/tools. This could indicate usability problems associated with a particular set of requirements.
