The Final Report - Usability Findings & Recommendations

Now it is time to compile your usability data, analyze it and write your recommendations. I recommend entering all of your entrance, exit and task information into an excel spreadsheet. If you don't have MS Word and Excel, you can download free viewers for Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word.

Sample spreadsheet of raw usability data (microsoft excel)

Sample Usability Recommendations Report (microsoft word)

Look for trends in comments and task completion. Document the impact the data shows on effectiveness, efficiency, time on tasks, errors and satisfaction. Group your recommendations in severity/priority order.

Don't just critique and point out what is wrong. Suggest a solution or remedy for each problem. Your suggestions could be a change in the design or the content.

If you sense that the application owners/developers will be resistant to suggestions, consider sharing the usability recommendations with them individually and in draft form, then when it comes to the formal meeting where you review the recommendations, there are no surprises.

Another key to helping developers/designers truly understand the usability issues is to actually let them observe the usability testing process. This works best when the develop/designer is behind a one way mirror (so when they scream and cry and state that "any idiot would know what to do", your innocent test subject won't have to be intimidated by them)! Since most offices don't have usability testing rooms with one way mirrors, other methods for letting them see include: