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SIGIA-L Mail Archives: Re: [Sigia-l] Usability Testing

Re: [Sigia-l] Usability Testing

From: Listera (listera_at_earthlink.net)
Date: Sat Jan 20 2007 - 15:02:02 EST

Bill Killam:

>>> The biggest issue with testing using an internal team is the conflict of
>>> interest inherent in being in that position.
 
>> If we were to take the notion of "internal = biased" to its natural
>> conclusion, we would have the absurdity of externally "validating" the

> Nowhere in my statement do I use the word biased or make any inference to
> it.

Of course you do. Conflict of interest *is* bias. "Any designer with their
ego that tied into their design is precisely why THEY cannot be objective
testers." All you're saying is that they are biased for their own design
and, by definition, cannot be trusted.

> Hardly the same, and ever Fred and Sally have checks and balances in the
> jobs - just different ones.

So it's OK for Fred and Sally to have their output judged by means other
than external validation, but designers must get their output judged by an
approach you have a personal interest in. As if design doesn't get judged by
the ultimate validators: users.

>> If you're searching for conflict interest, look no further than that
>> statement. The project has no time for iterative design (fundamentally
>> important and necessary) but, miraculously, time *and* money has to be found
>> for external validation. This "usability tax" on project budgets, as framed
>> above, is the undeclared bias of that business.
>
> I'm not searching for conflict of interest and there is no conflict of
> interest in the statement. I suspect you mean there is a discrepancy in the
> statement.

I mean precisely what I said: you want resources to be siphoned off from
design to design validation, in money and time. Read back what you wrote.
 
> But the fact that they recreate the very conflict I'm talking about is proving
> my point, not yours.

So, after all that mumbo jumbo, you seem to agree that bias and conflict of
interest can be found internally or externally, but that you prefer the
external bias. 

----
Ziya
Usability >  Simplify the Solution
Design >  Simplify the Problem
------------
IA Summit 2007:  Enriching IA
Rich Information, Rich Interaction, Rich Relationships
March 22-26, 2007, Las Vegas, NV
www.iasummit.org
-----
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