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The meaning of life behind the glass
http://rutube.ru/tracks/348365.html?v=ba3335e1df15b23799fd4546f4d37af2 </ rutube> </ p> <p> <i> February 21, 2007 Anna Makarova, SEOnews.ru correspondent interviewed Dmitry Satin, in which Dmitry spoke about laboratory usability and the specifics of testing usability in the laboratory. </ I> </ p> <anchor> habracut </ anchor> <p> Dmitry Satin, head of UsabilityLab: "We are trying to achieve for usability to become Russia "</ p> <p> <strong> What is a usability laboratory? Why is it needed? </ Strong> Usability laboratory is a combination of technology, software, combined in a certain way in space. It is needed for testing, defining the assessment of the usability of a product, to understand what prevents users from working with the product. Depending on the budget, objectives, usability, the laboratory can be assembled very quickly in a meeting room - low budget laboratory. Or maybe like ours - a rather expensive and equipped laboratory for different purposes. <strong> Is your laboratory the only one in Russia? </ strong> This is not the case. In 1996, a laboratory appeared at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University. For those times she was very well equipped. Now it continues to function, but only for research and educational purposes. In addition, there are marketing companies in Russia that have similar premises for focus groups. Usability companies often rent them for their testing. Our usability laboratory is the only specialized. Here everything is set up and ready for any experiment. <strong> What are the main components of laboratory usability? There are standards for organizing the laboratory? </ Strong> There are no standards. There are certain guidelines for action, but they are also very much discussed. For example, I heard a lot of criticism of using a mirror. For example, "such a large mirror is installed only in the toilets, so it does not cause those sensations, but women are beginning to preen." From my own experience, I know that it is not. <strong> Most usabilists work without such laboratories. Therefore, the lab is an optional, but optional tool for a usability? </ Strong> Now, usability itself is optional. The ISO standard, which formalized usability, was only released in 1998. The term itself appeared in the 70s, but the development of the region began relatively recently. Previously, this situation was common, if the project budget is cut, then the first thing they are trying to save is usability. Now the situation is changing, the general maturity of society is increasing in this issue. </ P> <h2> Usability secrets of the workshop </ h2> <p> <strong> What is mainly tested in the laboratory? What disadvantages of usability can be identified during its testing in the laboratory? </ Strong> The tasks of the experiment follow from the logic of the product, the project. They depend on the stage at which the product is located. You can test the early prototype of a product, and understand how this idea is viable. You can test the already finished product and understand what its fate will be after implementation. Or test an already functioning product to see exactly where people fail. Tasks depend on which questions we want to get answers. For example, how quickly you can work with the product. There are projects in which we want to work out some hypotheses, for example, that users will understand the navigation within the product. In this case, the time does not matter, we manipulate the test conditions so that the user is faced with the need to find this or that functionality. <strong> How are testers selected? </ strong> You need to understand what the target audience of the product being tested is. And choose such a respondent who shares the motivation to work with this product. For example, if we are talking about the banking system, then the person must be experienced and understand what difficulties may arise while working with such a product. An ordinary person can find problems, but they may be insignificant for bank employees. He will not notice, for example, that the product works very slowly, because it is not in a hurry, and for a bank employee this may be critical. <strong> How long does testing take? </ strong> We usually look forward to an hour. But in fact, it turns out that one session lasts about 40 minutes. </ P> <h2> Almost "home" conditions </ h2> <p> <strong> Google experts write that they conduct some research at home in users for them conditions. The Morae technology you use allows you to conduct testing at the customer’s site, deploying a laboratory in 10 minutes. Did you have to work in such conditions? </ Strong> Yes. Usability testing can be carried out in any place where you can put the computer. We carry out not only laboratory tests, but also the so-called remote. The user installs a special software called User Vue (http://www.techsmith.com/uservue.asp), which allows us to monitor his screen, to hear his voice (it is recorded through the telephone line). Thus, the user works in the usual conditions for him. The choice of conditions depends entirely on the product being tested. If a paper prototype is being tested (there is such a technique - sketching future interfaces), I don’t play a big part, the user can work with the prototype even in the dining room during lunch (laughs). If the product interface is being tested, errors that can be fraught with large financial losses, conditions must be stabilized, made more controlled and analyzed, in order to eliminate the possibility of error. <strong> We can not exclude the stiffness of the test in an unfamiliar environment. Does it affect the results? How do you deal with this? </ Strong> It is very good to do real life testing. But there are several contraindications. Real conditions can be very individual. One user works from the office, another - from home, the third - from the Internet cafe. Recreating all contexts, of course, is good, but the contexts themselves can affect the efficiency of the respondent’s work, then there is a danger of not understanding the characteristics of the product itself. Sometimes fixed experimental conditions help us to confirm or refute hypotheses more confidently. Indeed, laboratory conditions may seem unusual: a large mirror, privacy, conversation through an intercom. But in the testing process there is a phase of establishing contact. The person conducting the test meets the respondent, meets with him, shows the laboratory: only the working room, the moderator’s room can be shown after testing. This removes the participant's possible excitement about testing. </ P> <h2> Usability is worth the candle </ h2> <p> <strong> In what form do you provide clients with reports? (just point out flaws or advise where and what needs to be corrected?) </ strong> After testing, our employees analyze the results. As a result, the customer is provided with a video report of problem areas and a large fat report describing all the problems and how to solve them. Be sure to write a recommendation for each problem to fix it. We are designing user interfaces, but this is another service. It all depends on the wishes of the customer. <strong> How much does your lab cost? </ strong> There are certain phases in the testing project. Depending on the objectives and features of the project, some phases can be very time consuming. The cost of the entire project depends on the labor time spent on the organization of the whole process. The amounts are not small, but the money will not be wasted. You have improved the site - you have increased the likelihood of buying on it. Improving the site even by 10%, depending on its attendance, will cover all usability costs in 2-3 months and the site will continue to work and bring additional profits. In some cases, the money can be returned for the day, this applies mainly to very popular commercial resources, such as dating sites. <strong> What are the guarantees that if after testing a product (for example, an online store site) in your laboratory and fulfilling all your recommendations, traffic to the site will increase or the conversion of visitors to buyers will increase? </ strong> If we participate only in a certain phase of the process, if practical work on the implementation of solutions to identified problems is performed by someone else, then it is difficult for us to guarantee, because may be distorted. But we are always confident in our success. True, it is sometimes difficult to convince the customer. But there are many methods to prove the success of our work to improve the work of the site. Sometimes customers ask such a provocative question: "<i> Are you ready to receive payment from the profit that you bring to us </ i>?" We always answer: "<i> Ready! But, rather, you will not be ready for this </ i>!" (laughs) This means that we become partners, therefore, your business should be transparent for us, etc. </ p> <h2> The usability course </ h2> <p> <strong> In the West, laboratories are common? Why is there only one in Russia? </ Strong> Yes, for example, Microsoft has 25 usability laboratories in the USA, they are located in different cities to cover more people. The site has information on how to find the nearest laboratory or how to sign up for testing. When I say that we are one of the few laboratories in Russia, I feel bitterness. Because it is an indicator of our underdevelopment in this direction. The reasons are hidden in the novelty of the western approach. Despite the fact that the dissemination of the idea undergoes some difficulties, we quickly catch up. In particular, we are trying to ensure that Russia becomes the center of usability. With those talents that our engineers, programmers, and marketing specialists have, this is more likely. I think that usability is the next thing that can hit minds (in a broad sense), cause a social upturn, as was the case with web 2.0 or Ajax. <strong> When usability labs become more common in Russia? </ strong> This will depend on our PR activity and our marketing, so we will create an intensive flow of orders. It will depend on the market reaction. Now several large Russian companies are going to open their usability labs. I think this will be the beginning of active movement in this direction. Often customers are testing companies that deal with mass products. As I have already said, in such sectors even small improvements in the quality of the product lead to a large increase in profits. Therefore, these companies may soon have their own usability labs. <strong> How do you think, how soon will you have competitors? </ strong> I think that never! (laughs) We, by virtue of our positioning, try not to make competitors. We are engaged not only in usability testing, but also conduct scientific and educational activities, as well as deliver to Russia new technologies for testing the quality of software products. I would like to consider competitors as my partners, because we have a lot in common, we have a reason for cooperation. I hope there will never be any competitors, but there will be a huge number of partners. </ P> <p> <i> Interviewed by Anna Makarova Original article: <a href = "http://www.seonews.ru/interview/40/ "target =" _blank "> http://www.seonews.ru/interview/40/ </a> </ p> </ habracut>
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/17654/
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