Usability for Entrepreneurs
The when, how, and why to test your product
Where are they now?
WHY?
“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often”
– Winston Churchill
burbn
A game similar to MafiaWars that had a check-in feature as well as a photo-sharing element
Worried about all the cluttered features, the company stripped it's product down to just the photo-sharing feature
tote
a browse and shop platform that sent alerts about user's favorite products
most users just built collections to share. While wildly successful, the company is still trying to get back to it's ecommerce roots for revenue purposes
kutol
In 1933 this soap company made a putty to remove the coal grime from walls - a once common problem when we used coal to heat our homes
play-doh
With the introduction of vinyl wallpaper, folks could clean their walls with soap and water. The soap company then began selling their product as a toy
you're not psychic
ask and you shall fail
“If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”
– Henry Ford
how?
Observe your user
usability demo
Run usability tests
- Learn about user to categorize into Personas later
- Have your user teach you about your product
- "Play dumb"
- Don't test your user, test your product
- No leading questions
- Give them tasks, but never instructions
- Wait till end to answer any questions
- Allow for "dead space" in discussions
- The more comfortable the user, the more authentic the feedback
Now, ever, and always
when?
“Change before you have to.”
– Jack Welch | CEO, General Electric
Conceptualizing
Implementation
Development
All Stages of Your Business
Usability tools
Design thinking
- involve designers early
- human-centered approach
- try early and often
- co-create with users
- start with smaller ideas
- allow time for innovation
- train non-designers to be design-thinking
- design from inspiration through implementation
Tim Brown, Harvard Business Review
Usability tools
http://silverbackapp.com/
https://popapp.in/
http://www.invisionapp.com/
https://www.usertesting.com/
references
http://www.ideo.com/images/uploads/thoughts/IDEO_HBR_Design_Thinking.pdf
UX books
Don't Make Me Think
Rocket Surgery Made Easy
anything by Steve Krug
go out and test the world!
deck
By jean kaluza
deck
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