Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
much easier and more compelling to embed short clips directly in the appropriate
context of your presentation.
•
Present summary metrics.
Try to come up with one slide that clearly shows the key
usability data at a glance. This might be a high-level view of task completion data,
comparisons to objectives, a derived metric representing overall usability, or a
usability scorecard.
You also may need to present to the business sponsors or product team. They're
concerned about meeting their business goals, participants' reactions to the new
design, and how the recommended design changes are going to impact the proj-
ect timeline and budget. You may present to senior management too. They want
to ensure that the design changes will have the desired impact in terms of overall
business goals and user experience. When presenting to senior managers, gener-
ally limit the metrics and focus instead on the big picture of the user experience
by using stories and video clips. Too much detail usually doesn't work.
Most usability tests produce a long list of issues. Many of those issues do not
have a substantial impact on the user experience, for example, minor violations
of a company standard or one term on a screen that you might consider jargon.
Your goal for a test presentation should be to get the major issues, as you see
them, addressed, not to “win” by getting all of the issues fixed. If you present a
long list of issues in a presentation, you may be seen as picky and unrealistic.
Consider presenting a top 5 or at most a top 10 list and leave minor issues for
an off-line discussion.
When presenting results, it's important to keep the message as simple as pos-
sible. Avoid jargon, focus on the key message, and keep the data simple and
straightforward. Whatever you do, don't just describe the data. It's a surefire
way to put your audience to sleep. Develop a story for each main point. Every
chart or figure you show in a presentation has a story to it. Sometimes the story
is that the task was difficult. Explain why it was difficult and use metrics, ver-
batims, and video clips to show why it was difficult, possibly even highlighting
design solutions. Paint a high-level picture for your audience. They will want
perhaps two or three findings to latch onto. By putting all the pieces of the puz-
zle together, you can help them move forward in the decision making.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search