[Sigia-l] Testing your own sites

[Will Parker]

On Feb 4, 2007, at 9:35 AM, Christopher Fahey wrote:
> On the NYC-CHI list today, a representative of a big web shop said  
> this:
>
>> My company is dismantling its focus group and
>> usability testing lab, due to a chronic lack
>> of space and clients' growing reluctance to
>> allow our agency to do testing on our own work.
>
> Has anyone else working on the consulting side observed this  
> phenomenon? My
> company's thinking has always been that, basically, it takes an  
> awful lot of
> chutzpah to try to sell in-house usability testing services as part  
> of a
> design and development process.

I would put this a different way.

Responsible software developers of any stripe check their assumptions  
regarding the design as development proceeds, even if only to protect  
themselves from criticism (or lawsuits) later. Therefore, as a  
responsible software design company aware of the need for due  
diligence, your firm is ethically required to recruit or hire  
usability personnel, _whether your clients do or not_.

In-house usability testing is as much a vital part of your corporate  
infrastructure as your standard QA process, and therefore should be  
considered part of the cost of doing business. Unless you're doing in- 
house R&D to build your company's capabilities, the hours are  
billable. Whether you choose to bill them as a separate line item or  
as a component of your base hourly rate, it's something you must do,  
simply to protect your business.

Further, if all client-related usability testing is performed in some  
other company's facilities, either your designers have to spend  
(billable) hours offsite participating in the tests, or they're more  
or less cut out of the usability process, which means your client  
doesn't actually _have a usability process_. In the latter case, it's  
up to your designers to point out that your company must at least  
send observers to get first-hand knowledge of the problems found.

I would think that the best strategy for a company that currently has  
a usability lab in place would follow this outline:

"We do in-house usability testing on _all_ our projects to check our  
assumptions and keep the design process on track. We would welcome  
and strongly recommend participation by representatives of [your  
company]. If you would like to hire independent usability experts for  
this process (and again, we recommend that you do so), we can provide  
you with a list and help you make arrangements."

Short version: "We're doing it anyway because doing so protects our  
company. Would you like to participate, and would you like  
independent verification?"

- Will
Will Parker
wparker at ChannelingDesign.com

"The only people who value your specialist knowledge are the ones who  
already have it." - William Tozier