Boxes And Arrows : The Design Behind the Design

Article Idea:

User Testing Used as a Delaying Tactic

suggested by David Shen on 2007/07/08

Just recently, I saw user testing used as a delaying tactic. Potentially, the instigator did not mean for it to be one, but it certainly had that effect. Two people on this team disagreed with a design detail. The person who wanted to implement it said we should test it before taking it down. In looking at the situation, I felt that the design detail was the wrong direction and I had proof that it was, I felt that the person had ownership issues with the idea and that the person wanted to keep the design detail implemented no matter what, and I felt that the team had little time and resources ($$$) to even fully test the idea. I even felt that the design detail was too small to warrant testing. Thinking back over the years of doing this, I have seen user testing used effectively in design. But as people learn more about user testing and its ramifications both on results and what it takes to get testing done, I think people are using the fact testing takes time and $$$, that testing is trusted so people will agree to a call for testing, and that waiting in a stressed, hurried environment tends to see things dropped by the wayside if one just waits long enough. So these people drop the “let’s test it” as a way to delay the decision on the issue, and knowing that 90% of the time if they wait long enough the issue just gets forgotten and goes away, resulting in the instigator getting his way by default. I’d love to hear more about others’ experiences with this, and ways to deal with this. Thanks!