Your Users Are Doing Something Surprising. This post is for all of you lucky enough to have a product with real users.
Way back before you had users, or even a product, you probably went through a process to figure out what you should build. During that process you may have written user stories and work flows that described, in various levels of detail, how your users would perform each expected task. But you know who didn’t read your user stories? That’s right: your users. Black&White™ » Blog Archive » Getting to the Customer – Why Everything You Think about User-Centred Design is Wrong. Let me ask you a question.
If you had an idea for a new hammer and you wanted to test it, which of the following ways do you think would yield you the most valuable feedback? I am guessing most of you would choose #4. After all, getting a feel for the hammer requires the customer to actually try it out. Looking at a picture of a hammer, cutting it out, or even providing a Styrofoam prototype simply won’t provide you or the customer with sufficient foundation on which to evaluate it. However, if I asked you to test a digital product, whether it be a website, an application or an e-commerce site, most of you would choose #1, 2 or 3. Usability Testing with 5 Users.