Hiya Todd,
You are correct, but I wasnt citing a problem with usability testing per se just its realistic implementation in less-than-ideal conditions. Point being, usability testing can be a godsend, given the right discipline and structured approach (such as from a contracted agencys perspective, or with a well-funded internal team). Usability testing occasionally fails due to external factors beyond the practitioners control. In the example given, the practitioners in question were my in-house UCD team, who, in a given week, would have 8 or 9 apps thrown at them for quick studies, wireframes, mockups, reviews, etc, with less than three weeks for full testing with no lead-in, intro or in-depth research time for getting the tech right before starting. Ø Sounds like somebody picked the wrong UCD/consulting company to do the work. If the team doing the research doesn't involve the design and dev team then you have a problem. Its easy to blame the practitioners in the example given, and we heaped our share of blame on ourselves for not being able to do more, faster, to alleviate the tremendous usability problems across our organization. On the other hand, the point I tried to make was that an underfunded corporate usability team, just as an underfunded contract UCD agency project, has an uphill battle to get UCD right for any given project. The difference, of course, is that an agency can turn down a project that wont pay the bills. Bryan Minihan ________________________________________________________________ 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
