As much as we'd like to grab a few people off the street, sit them in
front of our work, and shove a microphone into their faces, usability
testing requires a little more planning. The purpose of the test plan
document is to lay out the approach for a usability test. Test plans
help set expectations for the kinds of feedback the design team will
receive and help everyone agree on the aspects of the design that need
testing. The test plan also prepares the team member who will be
conducting the test, establishing a direction for his or her
conversations with end users.
Everyone on the team benefits from usability test plans. The person
conducting the test gets the most benefit by far because the test plan
will direct conversations with end users in a meaningful way. Even if
you're not conducting the test yourself, your involvement in preparing
the test plan will ensure that your concerns will be addressed during
testing.
The usability test plan is one of those documents that always takes
longer than anticipated to prepare. You can put a simple one together
in a couple of hours, but feedback from the team will inevitably
identify additional concerns—everything from logistical problems to
additional questions for users. Because usability testing directly
involves customers, stakeholders usually want to get involved, which
can extend the timeline for putting a plan together.
The real question here is when to do usability testing, and that can
vary depending on your methodology. Most people save usability testing
for the end of the project, or do it at strategic points throughout the
design process. The bottom line: Whenever you schedule usability
testing, you must allocate some time to put a plan together. Keep in
mind that the organizational roadblocks to planning a test are
significantly lower than those for conducting a test—the prospect of
talking to customers can give some stakeholders cold feet—so it might
be weeks or months between the planning and the doing.]
For better or worse, the usability test plan hasn't evolved much in the
last 10 years. Unless you're working with a particularly innovative
team, you'll find that usability test plans are straight prose
documents, usually prepared in a word processor.
Though planning a usability test is fraught with
challenges—logistical decisions, keeping the scope of the test in
check, varying the script for different user groups—the main challenge
with the test plan itself is creating a multipurpose document. This
document will be used for discussing the plan with stakeholders and
team members, and for conducting the actual test.
Perhaps the easiest way around this challenge is to prepare two
separate documents—the test plan and the test script. Preparing two
documents, however, comes with its own set of risks. Two documents
means related content in two different places and two version histories
to track. Perhaps these are trivial issues for you. Over the years,
however, I've found it easier just to combine the documents.
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