Test, Test, and Retest – Finding value
Methodology – Test
Those of you who have partaken in usability test(s), have been to a usability center etc. You might recall the Usability Coordinator: [CRACKLING OVER THE RADIO] “((Testing)) ((Testing)) ((1)) ((2)) ((3))”
Many, many days spent in corp usability labs; fun times, good people. However, I felt sometimes the point was to justify change or boost numbers for change; in actuality it may have skewed the data. I digress!
Quickly, onto our fifth message here, this message is around ‘evaluation’ and ‘experimentation’… the value of, say an auto inspection, might reveal brake issues or failing tires. How often you inspect those tires or exam those brake parts, with determine cost of repair. How does this apply to your products and services?
Next, I prefer to test, (if money was no object), or I had the time to just test for the sake of testing I would do it. Fortunately, I’ve had the luxury of both. While working for myself and large corp. Goal is to find results both long-term and short-term, evaluations performed in my career. So, I guess the value in this article is the years spent testing, 24 years and counting. In that same vain, pilot studies, and small tests have value as well; working to reduce some cost, gain some efficiency over some defined length of time or duration.
Right? It’s probably why I test as often as I do, personally. The goal is to find products and services that fit and make my life experience better or ‘buy funnel’. Oh, quick story, desktop vs mobile (those were fun, before mobile first or device agnostic design)… circa 1999-2000. Hundreds of users tested, mix results; more focused results were skewed as were the broader ‘organic’ type. Data is a funny thing. In hindsight, I can’t stress this enough, the value of analysis; is the value of the experiment itself.
Very High Level – Have problems, Find Solutions
I’ll keep it surface level, exploration is great for any number of things, seat belts, fire retardant blankets and safety clothing or fishing gloves. How would you retrieve your fish hook from a fishes mouth with out kevlar gloves(I don’t go fishing without them). How about Gorilla Glass, how it splinters? Apple Device failure, no warranty? Try for example, Apple Self Service Repair options will work for your situation. Or how much pressure it takes to cause a catastrophic glass failure. Or, take for example, a drone not working, DJI gimbal issue, we’ve got get out to the airfield and perform flight maneuvers requiring video or the act of actively capturing video in flight . Things I know to well.
I’ll confess, testing is a part of life, it’s how we learn. I would say often, do it regularly, try on your ‘off days’, try on your ‘on’ days and always retest if you can. The value is finding similarities to the experience you want your customers to have when they interact with your products and services. Re-do’s, as many times as you can; adjust your hypothesis, adjust your trajectory of change.
CBA – Cost-to-Benefit Analysis
Obviously in the real world, there is a point of diminishing return, but from a business justification, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to fix a small sample assessment than fixing large, system level production changes; live. This goes for code, speeches, design, spelling, text messages, SMS, phone calls, or chat.
Lets’s explore the entire process, starting with hypothesizing (as highlighted in the previous article, active idea generation), then moving on to testing, learning & applying. We discuss these topics and more in our marketing and methodology articles covering possible changes, navigating challenges, improving vision, and knowing when to seek improvement or transformation. While there are many other topics to consider, let’s start here!
Once we complete our testing, we learn & apply our findings. As usual leave a comment below, let us know what you’re thinking?