A complicated prototype setup
- Author Benjy Stanton
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I've just got back from our research trip. It felt like a successful few days, we learnt lots and I think our prep work had paid off.
We did 6 sessions that were a mix of semi-structured interviews with usability testing. And we did 2 sessions of observing the as-is live product.
Being located in the users' environment for 2 days also gave us a good chance to absorb any ad-hoc things that happened.
I think the interaction of the prototype was good enough (and close enough to the as-is product) that conversations focused on how users felt about the changes that were being introduced, and how the wider service changes might impact them in their day-to-day.
For now, we only included simple journeys in the scenarios. Next time we need to introduce some more complex situations, like errors, or multiple things happening at once.
Prototyping the physical environment and role play
Our prototype included less common input devices, so we had to think about how users might interact with other types of computer peripherals, not just a standard mouse or touch screen. These were "off the shelf" things than are available to buy easily (nothing custom) but still it add an interesting new dimension to the work.
It was interesting to try and prototype the users' environment, and think about how they might interact with things in the physical space.
We learnt things that will help us iterate on the physical environment and input devices too, which means we should be able to make it more realistic next time.
Ensuring the prototype interacted with these input devices was a technical challenge too. I had to use more JavaScript than I’ve ever used before to make this happen.
We also needed to trigger things without the user noticing, to make them feel like it was happening automatically.
I should’ve spent more time making sure it behaved exactly the same on our testing laptop (a windows PC) as it did on my MacBook. Lesson learned for next time. I think the biggest interaction challenges will be around how users interact with the physical environment, so it's important we get that right.
Any kind of usability testing requires a bit of role play, but by including elements of the users’ physical environment in the test, it felt more like we were asking them to perform. I sensed some resistance to this, but we may need to gently encourage more role play next time.
That probably sounds like a lot was going on, but I'm relatively sure that, to the users, it felt mostly seamless. So overall I'm pretty happy with how it went.
Our next user research is happening in a couple of weeks, so we have a few days to create a new version.
For Wales, See Wales podcast
I've started listening to the For Wales, See Wales podcast. I think I heard about this via Nia Campbell or Ann Kempster.
I’m really enjoying it as a way to get more connected with Welsh politics. And honestly I’m learning about important things that I otherwise would’ve missed, like upcoming Welsh Government elections, the Welsh budget and the Crown Estate.
I've also realised that I've missed off Nia Campbell from my blogroll. Fixed now!