How Usability Testing (UT) Helps My Software Development
Hi, Everyone! Hope you are doing well. In this article I want to discuss about Software Quality Assurance, let’s discuss another activity used to improve software quality, which is Usability Testing.
Usability testing is a technique for determining how simple and straightforward to use a product or system is. It entails watching and documenting how users interact with a product or system while attempting to achieve specified tasks. Usability testing is intended to uncover any problems or challenges that users may have when using the product so that they can be resolved and the product improved. Usability testing can be done in a variety of venues, such as a lab, the field, or remotely, and can involve a wide range of users that represent the product or system’s intended population.
Usability Testing or UT is a UX research methodology used to identify usability problems, collect qualitative and/or quantitative data, and determine UT participants’ satisfaction with the product. Usability testing is conducted by inviting several participants as representative software users to evaluate it. Usually, during UT sessions, participants will perform several tasks while the observer or facilitator observes, listens, and takes notes.
Relation Between Usability Testing and User Experience
Usability testing (UT) is a key component of user experience (UX) research. UX design aims to create products and services that are useful, usable, and desirable for users. UT helps to assess the usability of a product or service and identify any usability issues that may be hindering the user experience.
UX researchers often use UT as a tool to evaluate the usability of a product or service. The insights gained from UT can help UX designers to identify areas for improvement and make design decisions that better align with user needs and expectations.
In this sense, UT is an essential part of the UX design process because it helps to validate design assumptions and ensure that the end product meets the needs and expectations of users. Without UT, designers may be designing based on assumptions or guesses, which can lead to a suboptimal user experience. Therefore, UT is a critical step in creating effective and user-friendly products and services.
Benefits of Usability Testing
With usability testing, we can get a direct view of users’ motivations, preferences, and goals in using the software we create. From here, developers are expected to identify problems/shortcomings before they are actually implemented. Here are benefits of implementing Usability Testing.
- Reducing development costs
- Adapting the product to the user
- Improving accessibility
- Increasing user satisfaction and brand reputation
- Fighting cognitive bias
Reducing development costs
By conducting UT (especially before starting the development process), developers can prevent creating problems that require a lot of money to fix if found during/after the development process. For example, with UT, it is found that users prefer to be directed to the profile page after login, rather than to a page that is full of features because it feels overwhelming. It is certainly cheaper to change implementation plans than to change implementation after release.
Adapting the product to the user
By interacting with users directly, developers can better understand users’ needs and preferences and then adjust the application accordingly. Finally, the application results can meet users’ needs and help solve their problems — fulfilling the purpose of creating the application.
Improving accessibility
Through UT, applications with high accessibility can be produced, meaning that the application can be easily used by many user groups, including those with special needs.
Increasing user satisfaction and brand reputation
Usability testing allows developers to identify potential problems and things that can be developed before releasing new features or products. This will improve the user experience and consistently build a loyal user base and positive reputation for the company/brand.
Fighting cognitive bias
Cognitive bias can be seen as assumptions made by developers about how users will use their products, and usually, developers will develop applications based on these assumptions. By conducting UT, developers can develop applications based on objective feedback from real users and reduce bias.
When is UT conducted?
As discussed several times before, UT is usually conducted before the development process of a new application or feature begins, but UT should be carried out regularly to maintain product quality and keep it relevant among users. UT can be conducted when:
- Before starting to design an application
- Already having a wireframe or prototype
- Before releasing the application
- Regularly after release
How to conduct UT?
Good UT is done in a structured and consistent manner. There are approximately 10 stages in the UT process:
1. Determining goals and user targets
First, developers must determine the purpose of creating the application, the problems to be solved, and the demographic target of users (for example, the application can be aimed at students, parents, or even the elderly). Then, it should also be determined what users do in the application and how long it takes.
2. Determining tools used for testing
To facilitate fast and scalable UT, standard tools are needed to carry it out. These tools can be in the form of prototypes (both clickable using Figma or other forms), live websites (can be in the form of a special environment created by the developer, or the original website of the application), and Usability Testing templates (useful for quickly creating new types/scenarios of UT).
3. Determining evaluation criteria
Metrics need to be defined to evaluate the application during UT so that the team can focus more on what needs to be evaluated and not be distracted by other things, such as the user success rate in using the application, time required to complete a task, user satisfaction score, etc.
4. Creating a usability testing script
This script outlines the tasks that should be performed during UT, the instructions given, and the questions asked of users.
5. Determining the length of the test
It is important to note that UT should not be too long so that participants remain focused and engaged. The length of the testing should be short enough to keep participants engaged, but long enough so that developers can gain useful insights.
6. Conducting a pilot test
A pilot test should be conducted before conducting UT with actual users. A pilot test is a test conducted before starting UT with other members of the organization as participants to test the script and tools used in UT.
7. Recruiting participants
To obtain good UT results, representative participants of the application’s target user and have similar backgrounds, experiences, and preferences need to be recruited.
8. Creating a positive testing environment
Participants must feel comfortable during UT to gain meaningful insights. Questioners should avoid leading or double-ended questions that can confuse or reduce participant objectivity.
9. Analyzing UT results
After UT is completed, the data obtained will be processed again to identify pain points and what needs to be improved, and then the results should be communicated to all team members.
10. Iterating and repeating for the next UT
Conclusion
In conclusion, usability testing is an essential process in software development that can greatly improve the overall user experience of an application. By conducting usability tests, developers can gain valuable insights into how users interact with their software and identify areas for improvement. Usability testing helps ensure that the application is intuitive, easy to use, and meets the needs of its users.
Based on my experience, usability testing has been an invaluable tool in my software development process. By conducting usability testing, I am able to gather valuable insights from users about the usability and effectiveness of my application. This information helps me to identify areas of improvement and make changes that will ultimately result in a better user experience. Additionally, usability testing helps me to identify potential issues early on in the development process, saving time and resources in the long run. Overall, I highly recommend incorporating usability testing into your software development process to ensure that your application is user-friendly and effective.
References
Journal:
- Göransson, B., Gulliksen, J., & Boivie, I. (2003). The usability design process–integrating user‐centered systems design in the software development process. Software Process: Improvement and Practice, 8(2), 111–131.
- Hedberg, H., Iivari, N., Rajanen, M., & Harjumaa, L. (2007, May). Assuring quality and usability in open source software development. In First International Workshop on Emerging Trends in FLOSS Research and Development (FLOSS’07: ICSE Workshops 2007) (pp. 2–2). IEEE.
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