Rolling back 5-7 years ago we used to write lengthier reports for clients. This was partly because Usability was new in our market and the clients we were working with required more extensive reports.
Today, we definitely lean towards presenting results in a PPT using screen shots, call outs and identifying potential fixes. If required we will back this up with a detailed report (but find that this is rarely read and people don't have the time or attention for it) Clients seem to prefer this approach as its easier to communicate. For Usability Testing reports you can also refer to -- http:// www.usability.gov/refine/prepusareport.html#what and the "Common Industry Format" (CIF) -- http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/iusr/documents/ cifv1.1b.htm There are also some templates available here in : www.theusabilitykit.com rgds, Daniel Szuc Principal Usability Consultant www.apogeehk.com T: +852 2581 2166 F: +852 2833 2961 "Usability in Asia" The Usability Kit - www.theusabilitykit.com On Nov 16, 2007, at 9:16 PM, Chauncey Wilson wrote: > The type of report can vary, but there is an issue of tracking > usability problems. When you do a study or review, the product team > will likely only fix a minority of problems and some problems may be > deeply rooted in the Web or GUI architecture and you will have to > decide whether to patch (temporary improvement) or revise the > architecture significantly. Given that you may need to track problems > that aren't fixed for multiple versions of your product or service, > there should be some type of long-term tracking system which could > (should?) be the overall bug/defect tracking system. Ignoring the > debate about what a "usability bug" is, many usability bugs cannot be > fixed in the short term. Another issue of "reporting and tracking" is > that you may find meta-issues that do not emerge fully in any single > evaluation but do show up across methods and groups. Putting reports > online is not, I believe, a very effective way to track problems -- a > usability database of some type is required. with a database, you > could extract problems by their location in the product, frequency, > user group, method (survey, lab test, field interviews, support calls) > and triangulate. So one thought is to have a short report as a > deliverable, a database where you can create ad hoc reports over time > and method and other variables, and a walkthrough with the product > team so they understand better the issues and learn for the next > update. > > Chauncey > > > > On Nov 16, 2007 6:59 AM, Marianne Jensen > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I'm curious to know what other usability specialists are including/ >> excluding >> in their usability reports. I'm finding that it largely depends on >> the >> client, as well as budget of course. The more liberal the budget, >> the more >> likely it is that we have time to go through and design suggested >> alternatives to problematic flows, pages and/or overall site >> structure. It >> is often the case however, that budgets for usability reviews are >> relatively >> small, in which case we're limited to a comb through of the site, >> screen >> shots to highlight problems areas, and written recommendations for >> improvement. >> >> Thoughts? >> >> -- >> Med venlig hilsen >> >> Marianne Jensen >> Senior Interaction Designer >> ________________________________________________________________ >> *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* >> February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA >> Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ >> >> ________________________________________________________________ >> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >> To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help >> > ________________________________________________________________ > *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
