[Sigia-l] Usability Testing comments from Giga

[Christopher Fahey [askrom]]

> > On the other hand, there are very experienced building
> > architects who can design pleasant, usable spaces without having to
> > resort to usability testing. Can our profession get there?
> 
> Hmm. Are you saying that IAs cannot currently design usable sites, for
> instance, without 'usability testing'?

I think he is saying that we are *able* to design without usability
testing, but that our profession sometimes does not let us. Why? 
  (a) IAs are often asked by outsiders (colleagues, clients) to back up
their expertise with empirical usability tests, instead of having their
recommendations accepted as the words of an experienced expert.
  (b) The religion of "never assuming" and "testing every decision"
psychologically hampers a lot of IAs from standing firm behind their
expert recommendations. 

-Cf

[christopher eli fahey]
art: http://www.graphpaper.com
sci: http://www.askrom.com
biz: http://www.behaviordesign.com