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> What's the common thread here? You don't have to be a usability expert!
> All you have to do is use the product. When you discover that you can't
> do something easily or at all, you can tell the designers what the
> problem is and why, then leave it to them to fix it. What a usability
> expert brings to the process is the ability to put you through your
> paces with the product in such a way that you'll stumble across the
> most important problems before the product ships.
Just as DFDs are *a* means of presenting information, formal usability
testing of a product is *a* benefit a usability expert brings to a
process. A true HCI engineer spends far less time with people doing
hands-on testing than you'd think (maybe about 10% of the time).
This, of course, shouldn't be seen as opposition to your suggestion to
pipe up and tell the development team what problems you've run into in
your work with the product, though.
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