Rocket Surgery Made Easy


It’s been known for years that usability testing can dramatically improve products. But with a typical price tag of $5,000 to $10,000 for a usability consultant to conduct each round of tests, it rarely happens.

In this how-to companion to Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, Steve Krug spells out an approach to usability testing that anyone can easily apply to their own web site, application, or other product. (As he said in Don’t Make Me Think, “It’s not rocket surgery”.)

In this new book, Steve explains how to:

  • Test any design, from a sketch on a napkin to a fully-functioning web site or application
  • Keep your focus on finding the most important problems (because no one has the time or resources to fix them all)
  • Fix the problems that you find, using his “The least you can do” approach

By paring the process of testing and fixing products down to its essentials (A morning a month, that’s all we ask ), Rocket Surgery makes it realistic for teams to test early and often, catching problems while it’s still easy to fix them. Rocket Surgery Made Easy adds demonstration videos to the proven mix of clear writing, before-and-after examples, witty illustrations, and practical advice that made Don’t Make Me Think so popular.

Table of Contents
FINDING USABILITY PROBLEMS
Chapter 1. You don’t see any elephants around here, do you?
Chapter 2. I will now saw my [lovely] assistant in half
Chapter 3. A morning a month; that’s all we ask
Chapter 4. What do you test, and when do you test it?
Chapter 5. Recruit loosely and grade on a curve
Chapter 6. Find some things for them to do
Chapter 7. Some boring checklists
Chapter 8. Mind reading made easy
Chapter 9. Make it a spectator sport

FIXING USABILITY PROBLEMS
Chapter 10. Debriefing 101
Chapter 11. The least you can do™
Chapter 12. The usual suspects
Chapter 13. Making sure life actually improves

THE ROAD AHEAD
Chapter 14. Teleportation made easy
Chapter 15. Overachievers only
Chapter 16. Happy trails / to you

Book Details

  • Paperback: 168 pages
  • Publisher: New Riders Press (March 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0321657292
  • ISBN-13: 978-0321657299
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