Hello
This month's newsletter offers advice on how to create an effective task list for a usability study. The task list is a simple usability tool that will help you see whether the design of your product makes sense to your target audience.
Happy April -
Kay
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What are the 5-6 things that users should be able to do with your product without thinking twice?
A well-constructed task list will let you know how easy or hard it is for people to use your product, but creating an effective one takes some work. Here are some tips - each task should be short, easy to understand, and focused on one operation or aspect of the product. The tasks should guide specific behavior without explicitly telling the participant what to do.
The person can either succeed or fail at the task. You need to be able to keep score. Arrange the tasks in a logical order to mimic a natural workflow. As your user moves from task to task the goal is to see how well the product design itself "speaks" to them, meets their expectations, and fits into their typical work flow.
For example, if you are usability testing an iPad application for ordering pizzas, you might want to learn the following: can the user easily pick the pizza size, toppings, and request extra cheese? Can they order several pizzas with different toppings? Do they know how to call the store if they have a question? Can they estimate delivery time? Do they know how to pay for the pizza and where to find their receipt? I think you get the picture!
Snippet of how this task list might look
Scenario: It's Friday evening and you have invited friends from work to your apartment to watch TV. Just before they arrive you wish to order pizza from Joe's Pizzeria and rather than calling, you decide to use their new iPad app to do this.
Task 1 - Download the app from the Apple Store
Task 2 - Order a large pepperoni pizza with extra cheese
Task 3 - Order a large anchovies pizza with onions
Task 4 - Add 3 Cokes, 2 Sprites, and 2 ginger ales
Task 5 - Let the store know where to deliver the pizza
Task 6 - Give them your phone number
Task 7 - Pay for your order using this VISA card (123-445-1234 expiration April 2050)
Task 8 - When do you think your order will arrive?
Task 9 - It's now an hour after the promised delivery time and your friends are getting very hungry, how can you learn what is holding up your order?
When running a study as the person works through the task list, keep track of their success and failure, when they struggle and why, their emotional reactions and any comments they make on how this product fits into their world. So that you have a window into the person's world, ask the participant to narrate their thought process.
Before running your study, make sure to “usability test” your task list ahead of time by running pilot sessions with friends and family. You want to make sure your task list is guiding people to the right areas of the product and that people understand what you need them to do.
When I run usability sessions, I often surround the study portion with interview questions, surveys, card sorts, and other methods that allow me to gather other types of feedback to support the usability study findings.
Until next time!
Kay
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Kay Corry Aubrey - Usability Consultant
Usability Resources Inc , www.UsabilityResources.net
LinkedIn Profile, http://www.linkedin.com/in/kaycorryaubrey
Usability Resources Inc is SOWMBA/DBE certified
About Kay
Kay Corry Aubrey helps teams make their products more easily understandable through usability consulting, training, and team mentorship. Her expertise is in qualitative research, usability testing, and user interface design. Since 2002 she has worked with organizations as diverse as Abt Associates, AT&T Mobility, iRobot, The Broad Institute, Columbia University Libraries, Constant Contact, NIH, Moxie Software, and the Mayo Clinic. She teaches medical professionals about designing for usability within the Healthcare Informatics program at Northeastern University.
Please call us when you need objective expertise in how to make your products more successful. Our phone number is 781-275-3020 and e-mail Kay@UsabilityResources.net. We invite you to visit www.UsabilityResources.net for more information.
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