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In my current project, we have scheduled a Usability Testing component using the Individual In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) method.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the project has to be delayed. I'm wondering if we can substitute to having a Co-Designing Workshop rather than IDIs as we do not wish to extend the delay even more.

Here are my considerations:

Usability Testing

  • We have around 4-5 modules which requires different participants
  • In total, we will need to test with roughly 20-25 participants
  • It will take least a month's time to complete it
  • However IDIs will help us to identify navigation problems as well as jarring UI issues

Co-Designing Workshop

  • We will bring together at least 5 users of each module(each module 1 session)
  • At most, this will take less than 2 weeks
  • We will print out the designed wireframes and paste around the room and get users to discuss/work on it to validate the content
  • However, users will not be able to navigate around the system hence I'm worried we might run into usability issues. But they are able to validate the content (e.g. form fields, information, statuses etc)

Let me know if it's a good idea/possible to make such arrangements. Thank you!

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2 Answers 2

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"However, users will not be able to navigate around the system hence I'm worried we might run into usability issues. But they are able to validate the content (e.g. form fields, information, statuses etc)"

Employ paper-prototyping or clickable/navigable wireframe mockups to break that constraint.

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  • Hi Straya, thank you for your response. Does it mean that I should do Co-Designing Workshop with clickable prototypes? I'm not sure how that would work if I have multiple users. If I have 5 users, do I need 5 moderators?
    – DoubleClickOnThis
    Feb 17, 2020 at 2:17
  • Let your budget and time constraints dictate what is possible. If you can only allocate 1 moderator, then take each workshop attendee through a clickable or paper-prototype one at a time. UX research is about obtaining tangible findings and justifying its value vs. the large amount of time, disruption to traditional development timelines, and budget bloat that it causes. I have seen insane and unusable widgets come out of workshops, mostly because the attendees never got a chance to play with prototypes of the ideas floating around the workshop.
    – straya
    Feb 17, 2020 at 2:29
  • So can I say that it's not advisable/recommended to change the IDIs to a Co-Designing Workshop? Since they are not able to interact with the prototype
    – DoubleClickOnThis
    Feb 17, 2020 at 2:39
  • You could, but that is throwing hands in the air rather than simply making a prototype available to workshop attendees. Even walking attendees through a staged paper-prototype navigation experience could elicit concerns regarding the navigation.
    – straya
    Feb 17, 2020 at 4:03
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Usability testing detects problem in your design, and workshop is more about getting ideas and general feedback. To spare time you can use Lookback or similar tool for remote usability testing, if your goal is to test design.

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