Re: Diff Betw. QA and Usability Testing

[Stephen Riley <SRILEY -at- BCT-SYSTEMS -dot- CO -dot- UK>]

>A very good book about usability evaluation is "A Practical Guide to
>Usability Testing"  by Joseph A. Dumas and Janice C. Redish (Ablex
>Publishing Company, second printing, 1994).



This thread raises an interesting line of thought. I'm sure
there are lots of us who are asked to do, or volunteer to
do, the odd bit of QA and/or Usability testing. Particularly
at smaller outfits, where authors are asked to do all sorts
of supplementary things.

We wouldn't doing our job as software authors if we
weren't providing feedback on areas of the application
that aren't functioning as expected or are functional but
clunky.

I'm in the process of formalising this part of my job to the
boss. (Yes I do this, these are the things I should be doing ...
type stuff.) At the moment my testing is rather ad hoc. I think
I do an OK job of it, having a human factors background (but I
would say that wouldn't I) but don't currently use any formal
methodology.

Can anyone else recommend the book cited above?
Alternatively are there other sources that people know/
use/recommend?.

As always, thanks for your input gang.

Steve Riley