You all definitely have a much more robust testing process than we do.

So far we have run two testing batches of about six people each for  
the OpenPlans software. We'd like to run more and my hope is that  
Silverback would make them really easy to undertake and allow us to  
commit to doing them with some regularity.

—R

On Jul 25, 2008, at 12:30 PM, Mike Sorvillo wrote:

> Hey Rollie,
>
> Well, because of the lawsuit, we can't actually use a camcorder to  
> record the users. One of the standards is http://www.techsmith.com/morae.asp 
>  (made by the people who make camtasia) for recording screens and  
> their reactions, but that app you sent me looks pretty cool too. I  
> might look into it for next time and just turn off the video capture.
>
> So far, we've done a paper prototype test where we have two people  
> observing and taking notes and one person moderating. We've done a  
> hi-fi flash prototype test where it was just me moderating and  
> another person taking notes. Both of these have been qualitative  
> with about 5 users just to get some feedback early on before we  
> commit to letting the Java devs do anything in Swing.
>
> I usually write the test a few days before and then get it approved  
> by the lawyer, run a pilot test in house with someone who works here  
> to point out test flaws, and then the other 5 users are brought in  
> from outside and that usually takes about 2 days. The testing  
> process for these small qualitative iterations usually take about 1  
> week to do in whole. I'd like to do something with some more users  
> (min of 8) to get some baseline measurements for clicks, errors,  
> misinterpretations, etc, once we actually get the Java version up  
> and running.
>
> How often are you guys doing tests? We had planned to do three  
> iterations inside this quarter, but I don't know if thats going to  
> happen because of the deadlines we have to meet.
>
> --mike
>
> Rolando Penate wrote:
>> Hey Mike,
>>
>> You mentioned at lunch yesterday that you were responsible for user  
>> testing at Wire and I was curious as to how you all set that up.  
>> Also, I wanted to forward you this app in case you hadn't seen it  
>> before. We're thinking of switching over to using it rather than  
>> our intensive camcorder-based process.
>>
>> —R
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> *From: *Christopher Patterson <cpatterson@... <mailto:cpatterson@... 
>>> >>
>>> *Date: *July 24, 2008 5:39:46 PM EDT
>>> *To: *topp-design-discussion@... <mailto:topp-design-discussion@... 
>>> >
>>> *Subject: **[TOPP Design discussion] New (to me) Usability Testing  
>>> App*
>>> *Reply-To: *topp-design-discussion@... <mailto:topp-design-discussion@... 
>>> >
>>>
>>> Only glanced at it so far, but it looks pretty spiffy and may be  
>>> worth a trial for when we get to do usability testing next (free  
>>> 30-day demo, only $50 to register).
>>>
>>> http://silverbackapp.com/
>>>
>>> Also worth checking out the fake-parallax vegetation in their  
>>> header - drag your window wider / narrower to see it in action.
>>>
>>> Chris
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Archive: http://www.openplans.org/projects/topp-design/lists/topp-design-discussion/archive/2008/07/1216935587967
>>> To unsubscribe send an email with subject "unsubscribe" to topp-design-discussion@... 
>>> .  Please contact topp-design-discussion- 
>>> manager@... for questions.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
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