[Sigia-l] Validation

[Cindy Alvarez]

I'd second this:

> * ask people to write down a couple of things that they either already use
> or plan to use the intranet for (before they see anything)

> You could also send/give them a small set of scenarios to use.
>
> Obtaining feedback based on real scenarios is more useful than
> unstructured feedback. You have a better chance of getting good
information if people are focusing on how they will use it.

And in my experience, I get much richer usability/usefulness feedback by
starting out with something that is not obviously "designed".  If you
already have HTML prototypes, swap out the stylesheet for a very plain
grayscale version and replace purely-decorative images with placeholders.
This takes some extra prep time from you, but will help prevent users from
complaining about exact shades of blue instead of focusing on whether or
not they would be able to navigate to the company directory.

If possible, I would send out a short list of questions (What do you use
the intranet for today?  What is not on the intranet that you would find
useful?) in advance, and use those answers to prepare some brief
scenarios.
For example, "find Janet Jones' phone number" or "Can you tell me what the
booking numbers for Q4 were?" and watch the users try to complete the
task.  For remote users, you could conduct this test over PlaceWare or
even just be on an IM session with the user asking them to narrate their
browsing activities.

To validate that you have included the necessary types of information, I
would try to conduct brief interviews with some team leaders from various
departments.  When anyone has a question, they usually go to these people
to get answers - find out what people are asking!   These people are
usually very busy, but would probably be thrilled if they could make sure
some of their institutional knowledge is in an accessible place.

Cindy Alvarez
Interaction Design
http://www.pixelsmear.net

> On 30 Jan 2004 at 12:54, lisa.najarian at prudential.com wrote:
>
>> We have a project where we have redesigned an intranet overview page.
>> We were not able to get user input from the beginning (I know that is
>> awful), however we have several designs and received approval to put
>> them in front of some users. What is the best way to go about
>> validating these designs (prototypes) with the following in mind: a)
>> Some users will be in a remote location b) We want validate not only
>> usability, but also that we have provided the
>> information/functionalities that are important to the user. c) We wont
>> be allowed very much of the users time, most likely 1 hour