Don't listen, watch
By Kristoffer Bohmann, Bohmann Usability
According to Jakob Nielsen, usability professionals should never rely on what users say, only what they do. Too often, user opinions and self-reported data don't match reality:
- Users say things they think you want to hear as opposed to saying their true opinion.
- Users don't recall exactly what they did or didn't do during a test.
- Users speculate about how they would have behaved if a design was different thereby making unsubstantiated and useless statements.
Dr. Nielsen added a question mark to his Alertbox ("First rule of usability?") thereby encouraging a discussion about this topic. My answer is yes, the "don't listen to users"-rule is imperative to usability. The way data are gathered makes the usability discipline differ from other data gathering methods, including surveys, interviews, and traditional observation.
I say this knowing that I could be saying things I think Nielsen and other readers want to hear. And, I may be forgetting other important factors within the usability discipline. ;-)
Bohmann's second rule of usability: Focus on goal-oriented user behavior. Identifying actual user needs, goals, and behavior is the way to develop usable products and services. But first you need to know how to generate those insights: Don't listen, watch.
Kristoffer Bohmann
