Usability Studies At Microsoft

My Experiences Overview The labs Intro to feature studied Usability study

Overview Conducted studies for one of the features I worked this summer New Office12 features Performed them myself!

Really Simple Syndication Ability to ‘subscribe’ to web content, and get notifications when it was updated Initially for blogs Popular with news sites Might be the next way of surfing the web

Usability study Create a prototype Cog walk Prototype redesign Usability study –Create participant profile –Create scenarios –Create working prototype –Find participants –Conduct study Make recommendations/ revise prototype

Observations 100% - found “RSS Resources” link on the second page in less than 30 seconds 87% - did not read the “What is RSS” blurb (paper prototype) 100% clicked on the XML icon (for the feed in their task) in less than 20 seconds

So you want to see what Office 12 looks like??