Usability Testing Demystified

A useful refresher on how and, more importantly, why to do usability testing from A List Apart. A few lines that jumped up:

• Focusing on the behavior you’re interested in observing is easier than trying to select for market segmentation or demographics.
• Though only one person from the team moderates, as many people from the team as possible should observe usability test sessions. If you’re going to do multiple individual sessions, each team member should watch at least two sessions.
• But most real-world usability tests need to be lighter and faster. Some of the best user experience teams do only a few hours of testing every month or so, and they may not even think of it as “usability testing.” They’re “getting input” or “gathering feedback.”
• You can do all that fancy lab stuff, but you don’t have to.

Also includes a link to free resources from the website that accompanies the Handbook of Usability Testing, Second Edition: www.wiley.com/go/usabilitytesting.