Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems
It's been known for years that usability testing can dramatically improve products. But with a typical price tag of $5,000 to $10,000 for a usability consultant to conduct each round of tests, it rarely happens.\ \ In this how-to companion to Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Steve Krug spells out an approach to usability testing that anyone can easily apply to their own web site, application, or other product. (As he said in Don't Make Me Think, "It's not rocket...
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It's been known for years that usability testing can dramatically improve products. But with a typical price tag of $5,000 to $10,000 for a usability consultant to conduct each round of tests, it rarely happens.In this how-to companion to Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Steve Krug spells out an approach to usability testing that anyone can easily apply to their own web site, application, or other product. (As he said in Don't Make Me Think, "It's not rocket surgery".)In this new book, Steve explains how to:Test any design, from a sketch on a napkin to a fully-functioning web site or applicationKeep your focus on finding the most important problems (because no one has the time or resources to fix them all)Fix the problems that you find, using his "The least you can do" approachBy paring the process of testing and fixing products down to its essentials (A morning a month, that's all we ask ), Rocket Surgery makes it realistic for teams to test early and often, catching problems while it's still easy to fix them. Rocket Surgery Made Easy adds demonstration videos to the proven mix of clear writing, before-and-after examples, witty illustrations, and practical advice that made Don't Make Me Think so popular.
Opening Remarks Call me Ishmael 2How this book came to be, some disclaimers, and a bit of housekeepingFinding Usability ProblemsChapter 1 You don't see any elephants around here, do you? 12What do-it-yourself usability testing is, why it always works, and why so little of it gets doneChapter 2 I will now saw my [lovely] assistant in half 20What a do-it-yourself test looks likeChapter 3 A morning a month, that's all we ask 22A plan you can actually followChapter 4 What do you test, and when do you test it? 30Why the hardest part is starting early enoughChapter 5 Recruit loosely and grade on a curve 38Who to test with and how to find themChapter 6 Find some things for them to do 50Picking tasks to test and writing scenarios for themChapter 7 Some boring checklists 56And why you should use them even if, like me, you don't really like checklistsChapter 8 Mind reading made easy 62Conducting the test sessionChapter 9 Make it a spectator sport 90Getting everyone to watch and telling them what to look forFixing Usability ProblemsChapter 10 Debriefing 101Comparing notes and deciding what to fixChapter 11 The least you can do 110Why doing less is often the best way to fix thingsChapter 12 The usual suspects 120Some problems you're likely to find and how to think about fixing themChapter 13 Making sure life actually improves 128The art of playing nicely with othersThe Road AheadChapter 14 Teleportation made easy 134Remote testing: Fast, cheap, and slightly out of controlChapter 15 Overachievers only 134Recommended readingChapter 16 Happy trails / to you 144A few final words ofencouragementSample test script and consent form 146Acknowledgments 154Index 158
