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Comparative Usability Evaluation
1. Purpose
The purpose of the comparative evaluation is to provide a survey of the state-of-the art
within professional usability testing.
Six usability labs have agreed to carry out a professional usability test of a commercial
calendar program for the Microsoft Windows platform.
2. Project Plan
a) If you have any comments on this proposal, please let me know immediately. If you
have no objections please send me your approval. Send comments or approval to me
by e-mail as soon as possible, and before Tuesday 02 December 1997.
b) Inform me before Tuesday 09 December 1997 of the starting date that suits you best
for your usability test. The starting date must not be later than Monday 16 February
1998.
c) Approximately one week before the starting date you will receive from me a
demonstration version of a commercial calendar program, Task Timer for Windows
(TTW).
The demonstration version consists of an envelope containing a standard diskette, an
introductory folder (eight pages in A5-format) and an order form. The only limitations in
the demonstration version is that it can be started only fifty times, and that the
networking functions are disabled.
d) Your task is to carry out within three weeks a usability test in accordance with your
company's standard procedures and write a usability test report for Time/system. Use
the Usability Test Scenario in section 3. If you have questions to the customer that are
not answered by the usability test scenario, please send them to me after reading
section 7 carefully.
You are free to perform any activities that you deem necessary in addition to the
usability test if you consider it beneficial for the cost/benefit ratio. If you perform
additional activities, please make sure that you distinguish clearly between these
activities and the usability test in your reporting of resources.
e) Within three weeks of the starting date send the deliverables listed in section 4 to me
using e-mail. Send reports as attached files. Microsoft Word 6 or Word 97 format
preferred.
f) As soon as I have received all deliverables from you I will distribute the anonymous
usability test reports to each of you and ask for your comments and general
observations. I will also send the anonymous reports to a few additional people with
expertise in the field and ask for their comments. If I have not received all reports on
Tuesday 10 March 1998 I will distribute the reports I have received to those teams that
are finished by this time.
g) Based on the comments I receive from you and on my own observations, I will put
together a brief paper for the UPA98 panel, summarizing the major findings of the
comparative evaluation.
I welcome comments on the paper or brief statements from each of you that will be part
of the paper. I will attempt to produce a version for review approximately ten days
before the deadline.
Rolf Molich, DialogDesign, 24 November 1997
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