How to Run Your First Usability Test in a Week

Usability testing has a reputation for being formal and expensive. In practice, the most useful tests I have run were scrappy: a prototype, a quiet room and a notebook.

Day one: define the question

Write down what you need to learn, such as 'Can new users find where to change their delivery address?' A good question is specific, observable and tied to a decision.

Days two and three: recruit and prepare

Aim for five participants who resemble your real users. Draft three or four tasks phrased as scenarios, avoiding the words that appear on screen. Rehearse once with a colleague.

Days four and five: observe

• 01Ask participants to think aloud.
• 02Resist the urge to explain or rescue them.
• 03Note hesitations and backtracking, not only failures.
• 04Close with one open question: what surprised you?

“When a participant struggles, the design is the one being tested.”

Share what you saw

Group observations by theme, rate their severity, and present three fixes with short video clips. Evidence from real people persuades faster than opinion from any designer.