In fact, it’s the whole point behind user testing.
For some reason, though, most design teams go into testing thinking they know exactly what will happen. And what that typically is is that there will be no issues at all and that the users will love everything unreservedly.
I, on the other hand, know there will always be something no one accounted for. And that’s because I’ve been in the business for 35 years and have interacted with over 4,000 users. It’s also something I actually always look forward to. I figure, if nothing else, I did manage to learn something new that day.
Why the different perspective? Well, one simply has to do with our job roles. For me, my job is to find issues, so they can be fixed up before release. If there aren’t any, great! Realistically speaking, though, I’m not sure that that’s ever happened in those 35 years. I figure even Michelangelo’s David has got a little crack in it somewhere.
For the design team, they need to build things to spec and have various groups – management, legal, compliance, risk – sign off on it. They typically go into testing thinking that they’ve done a great job, both from their own perspective and from the perspective of all those different approvers.
In other words, I look for "bad stuff." They try to avoid "bad stuff" at all costs.
Depending on how truly user-centered a company is, the feedback from actual users that comes out of a usability test can come as a nasty – or a pleasant – surprise. Nasty because the team was going into it with the totally wrong attitude. Pleasant because they went into testing seeing it as an opportunity to improve their product, as well as their own skills … but also to still feel some validation when things do test well.
BTW, this strategy need not be limited to user testing. Any interaction with real users – focus groups, ethnography, card sorts, surveys – can provide a different perspective, put a check on errant assumptions, and introduce a little humility into the process.
Dani is a VP & head of Consumer Lending Delivery at Citizens Bank
