Locked Room Usability Testing by Leah Kaufman

This was a lightning talk presented on June 22, 2017 as part of the kick-off to the “Tools n Techniques” series. The event had six talks from local UX practitioners on their favorite UX tool or technique used to streamline their process, communicate more effectively, and help understand our users better. For more details on the event, check out the recap: https://medium.com/exploreux/recap-tools-n-techniques-kick-off-cc6f6ce03ca9.

Leah gave a talk on her "locked room" usability testing process, which she's used to successfully iterate on a product.

Each month, we'll be hosting Tools n Technique evenings based around focused and broad themes (e.g., the Sketch app, user research, etc.) If you're in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina) area, come join us (http://www.meetup.com/exploreUX-raleigh)! We're also looking for people to present and share their favorite UX tool or technique.

If you can't join us in person, join us online. We'll be posting event recaps as well as additional articles on tools and techniques on our Medium publication (http://www.medium.com/exploreux). We’d love to hear your thoughts and let us know if you’d like to contribute an article on your favorite tool or technique!

Transcript

1. Locked Room Usability Testing Leah Kaufman Sr. UX Research Manager Lenovo Global eCommerce
2. Iteration = progress u Design & development & usability testing are iterative u Locked Room Test provides the yardstick
3. Basic method u Same test repeated until all tasks work u Use failures to pinpoint problems & change the UI u Result: UI that does exactly what it needs to
4. Locked Room Test Method Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/App /UI
5. Locked Room Test Method Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/App /UI Typical vs. Varied Expert vs. Novice Return vs. New each week
6. Locked Room Test Method Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/App /UI Tasks you MUST be able to do with product
7. Locked Room Test Method Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/App /UI Reasonable time for doing the yardstick tasks
8. Locked Room Test Method Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/App /UI Desktop Mobile Tablet Other
9. Locked Room Test Method Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/ App /UI Current UI Current build
10. Case Study Crossgain - WebLogic Workshop – software for designing web services in Java u Locked Room usability testing every week for 6 months
11. Case Study Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/App /UI Java developers – some expertise 3 newbies 3 returnees
12. Case Study Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/App /UI 12 tasks that you must to be able to do with the tool
13. Case Study Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/App /UI 3 hours
14. Case Study Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/App /UI Six desktops set up in the middle of the office
15. Case Study Ingredients u Person u List of tasks u Time Limit u Device u Software/ App /UI That week’s current build and UI
16. Case Study Outcome u Devs and designer watched and talked to participants u Team debrief the next day: u Discussed problems u Came up with fixes u Determined work for the coming week
17. Case Study Outcome u Entire company paying attention to participants u Design and development decisions all based on user success/failure u Entire company on the same page
18. Product Outcome u Completed 8 tasks, not 12 u Crossgain bought by BEA System
19. What I learned u Power of the yardstick & iteration u Joy of working at company where customer needs are the true focus
20. Need more details? Let me know lkaufman@lenovo.com leah@leahk.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahskaufman/