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There are highly structured approaches to usability testing and to
integrating user feedback into the whole design process. Check out
www.orrnet.com
We have some good photos of a usability lab too.
Tech writers are often the best allies for usability experts, but
selling usability to management can't be done on a "it's-a-good-idea"
basis. Management has to be brought to believe that doing usability
testing is a matter of gaining competitive advantage and a way to save
lots of money in development. (Fixing something after it has already
been coded costs 10 to 100 times more than fixing it at the design
stage.) Companies like Rand McNally, that regularly win industry Codie
Awards for their products like TripMaker and others, routinely do
usability testing. Apple, MicroSoft, Sun MicroSystems, and smaller
companies like Excellnet, SPSS, Cyborg, and many others, employ
usability as a competitive weapon.
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M. David Orr
Orr & Associates/Usability Management
7366 N. Lincoln Ave. Suite 101
Lincolnwood, IL 60646 mailto:whitears -at- orrnet -dot- com http://www.orrnet.com
Phone:847-677-1920
