How to be a user-conscious QA
Gareth Thomas | Senior QA at Purplebricks
If you’re a follower of our Medium, you might remember my previous article about forging relationships between your QA and design teams. If not, I hope you enjoy the read. If you do, then I hope you’ve made some positive steps towards bridging that divide.
At Purplebricks, we’re lucky enough to have an experienced and organised design team, so many usability, accessibility and aesthetic issues are caught and resolved before virtual pen is ever put to virtual paper, but many organisations don’t have this luxury.
And in those cases, it’s up to you, the user-conscious QA, to fight on behalf of your users! Hopefully, this cheat sheet can help. Ask yourself the following six questions next time you’re testing a user journey to help you navigate through the basics of the sometimes confusing world of usability.
1. Do I actually know how this is supposed to work?
Ok, perhaps the easiest way to describe why this seemingly obvious step is so fundamental is by telling a story from personal experience.
Some context; I’ve been at Purplebricks since 2015, when I was one of a team of three that were tasked with creating our mobile app. I know intimately how our app works. Recently, our team was meeting for a design box, where we were getting our first look at the work of our UX and UI team. There was one specific change that I just couldn’t get. I found myself asking questions about it over and over again during the session, until we realised… If I don’t know how this is supposed to work, how will our users? After the eureka moment, we decided to go back to the drawing board completely and come up with a different, more usable solution.
What do I do? Simple. Keep track of how many questions you need to ask about a change. If it’s a lot, raise that as an issue.
When do I do it? Early and often. As soon as you see the change in any form, whether that’s wireframes, a fully coded UI or just a planning session.
2. Can I actually see it?
Or more accurately, can all of your users see everything comfortably? Different colour combinations will contrast differently, and some are more accessible than others. Fortunately, there is a handy list of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines available, and a plethora of contrast checkers available to do all the hard work for you.
What do I do? Use a colour picker, and enter the hex codes in a contrast checker. If the result is a pass, then great stuff. If not, raise it as a concern.
When do I do it? As soon as colours are introduced to your product.
3. Do I understand the error?
Any product worth its salt will have some degree of error handling for when something goes wrong, and when it does, the error message presented to the user should allow them to do three things; recognise there was an error, diagnose what the error is, and finally, inform them how to recover from the error. The point at which something goes wrong can have a huge impact on your users’ perspective of your product. If they have a poor experience, they might abandon you altogether.
What do I do? Check your error messages. Do they meet the three requirements?
When do I do it? Help define them when your team is deciding on which error messages to create. When it comes to quality assurance, earlier is always better.
4. Is it easy to make a mistake?
This is somewhat of a cousin to the previous step. From a usability perspective, it’s much better to prevent errors rather than have to explain them. Here’s an example…
We’ve probably all seen a website like this, right? You’re asked to enter a password, only for it to tell you that it’s wrong after you entered it, and even then, it doesn’t tell you what the requirements actually are! This is where your new found knowledge of error prevention comes in handy, and you can suggest the following…
Anywhere you ask your users to interact with your product, ensure that the likelihood they can do something wrong is kept to a minimum.
What do I do? Carefully consider what you’re asking your users to do, and any ways that they could potentially do the wrong thing.
When do I do it? Whenever you get your first look at designs, or even earlier, when your team is defining requirements.
5. Is the copy consistent and accessible?
Copy, or the text that your users are expected to read, is often overlooked by many organisations, a distant runner up to the user interface. However, for inexperienced users, what they read on your website or app can make or break their experience.
You’re best placed to know the terminology of your industry, and the terms and phrases that your users might expect. As a user-conscious QA, it’s your job to ensure that copy is consistent and accessible throughout their journey, the importance of which you can read up on in our Senior Copywriter’s blog, Why you’re failing to save the world with your inconsistent copy. Aim to reduce your customer’s cognitive load and the likelihood that they’ll have to learn something new just to perform a simple task. Consider the example of an app that allows you to pay for fuel remotely…
Wait a minute? Is that definitely what I ordered? Gallons?! This is too stressful, I’ll just go somewhere else! Obviously, this is an extreme example, but it does illustrate the problems caused by inconsistent, unexpected or inaccessible copy.
What do I do? Make note of anywhere that phrases change or jargon is used. Question whether or not your users will expect and understand them.
When do I do it? While defining requirements and acceptance criteria.
6. List your frustrations
I’d wager that nobody is using your product as much as you and your fellow QA team, so it’s important, and absolutely valid, that you note where and when you’re frustrated while using it. After all, if you’re pulling your hair out while getting paid to use it, imagine how your users will feel!
Imagine your product is a webshop and whenever you want to edit the contents of your shopping cart, it takes you twenty clicks and five minutes to complete it. Now imagine that you’ve performed that action twenty times today while verifying something. Frustrating, right?
What do I do? Make a note, mental or otherwise, of the tasks, flows and journeys in your app that are unpleasant or unnecessarily slow or difficult to perform.
When do I do it? Whenever you start using a prototype or a fully fleshed out product.
Now, there is still a whole world of potential usability issues lurking out there, far too many to be covered by one humble cheat sheet, but by taking these six prompts as a basis for your testing, you’ll enact positive change for your users while also helping to drive a user-centric culture in your organisation. Win, win.
