[Sigia-l] Usability Testing

[Arthur Fink]

At 07:24 PM 1/21/2007, Christopher Fahey wrote:

>I do agree with Bill's general premise, however, when applied to the
>consulting world: Hiring the same company to design a product and to
>actually test it is just foolish. Consulting companies usually have a deep
>vested interest in proving their own designs and strategies correct -- at
>best testing will invalidate low-level tactics. An external team with no
>knowledge of the gravity or impact of undermining a project's most
>fundamental strategic assumptions is less likely to avoid conclusions which
>question those assumptions.

When "test" is seen as "validate", then, certainly, yes.

But when testing is part of an iterative cycle of development by 
prototyping, then it almost has to be done by the same group -- and 
that's just fine.

          ARTHUR FINK Consulting  arthur at arthurfink.com
          ---------------------------------------------
           Ten New Island Avenue  Listening to users
       Peaks Island, Maine 04108  Designing for people
              www.ArthurFink.com  User interfaces that work
207.766.5722  cell 207.615.5722  Progress training + consulting