We've all had experiences with poor software usability! You're sitting there working in a program, and then you go to do something simple, like make your text color turn green. But you can't find the command. You poke around and just can't figure out how to make it happen. Or worse, you end up formatting it in a huge font size and can't get it undone. "Gosh darn," you grumble, "don't these programmers ever even try to use the software they write?"
Well, I hope that hasn't happened to you with Autodesk software! In the Systems Design group, home of Autocad Electrical and ecscad, we are always looking for ways to make our software more user-friendly. One of the ways we do this is through usability testing.
In usability testing, we are testing an in-development version of our software on real users, to find out if our proposed design meets people's needs. A usability test can occur in several different ways – in person or online; working with prototype software designs on paper, software in development, or fully-functional software. We recruit participants for usability tests through a variety of different ways depending on what design we want to test – sometimes we are looking for people who do specific kinds of work, or have experience with certain software. We'll usually be looking for between four and six different users to participate in a particular usability test.
What happens in a usability test session?
Most usability test sessions last about an hour. A typical Systems Design usability test is conducted as an on-line meeting using screen-sharing software. Let's say you were participating in a usability test – we would spend the first ten minutes or so discussing your work environment and experience with our software. Then, I will share my screen and give you so they can actually interact with the software installed on my laptop. I will ask you to perform a specific task (say, create a new file and place three components in the drawing).
While you are engaged in the task, I will ask you to talk aloud about what you are trying to do, or what you are thinking. If you can't figure out how to do something, I might ask you to try again, or look around the screen to see if you can find some information to help you. During a usability test, we may focus on two or three different tasks. Or you might do the same task with two different versions of the same design.
At the end of the meeting, I might ask some follow-up questions about things I saw you do during the test. And I give you time to ask questions or give me more general feedback on the design you saw.
Sometimes people get a little frustrated if they are having a hard time accomplishing the task – you have to remember that this isn't a test of you! We're not looking for software whizzes who can figure out anything immediately. We're looking for average users who will help us find where our design isn't helping you to do the work you need to do. If you have a hard time, it's our problem, not yours!
Interested in learning more?
In my next blog post, I'll discuss what we do with the results from the usability tests, and how these can make a real difference in our software.
If you are interested in participating in future usability testing, we invite you to join us! Anyone can register with our Systems Design Beta Portal. Registration will add you to the list of people we may invite to participate in usability tests, beta tests, or ask for other forms of feedback on our products.
-Olivia Williamson
Subscribe
