This week, I had the opportunity to speak at the lunch time meet up of COSQAM (Central Ohio Software Quality Assurance & Management). COSQAM are the organizers behind the annual QA or the Highway Conference (@QAortheHighway) in Columbus, Ohio. The event was hosted at the downtown Motorists Insurance headquarters. During the event, the quality assurance (QA) folks in attendance were seeking to learn more about usability testing since it is something they are coming across more and more.
Lunch time talk at COSQAM meet up in Columbus, Ohio.
The discussion we had was about defining both user experience and usability. In addition, I shared examples of the types of deliverables they might encounter from user experience (UX) professionals, when to expect usability and UX activities during both the water fall and agile development process, etc. My talk, “UX, Usability…What Difference Does it Make?” highlighted examples of various usability testing methodologies (Rapid Iterative Testing & Evaluation, Validation Testing, etc.). I fielded some great questions during the presentation, and I had some great dialogue with the attendees afterwards.
A special thanks to the event hosts Val Lines (@val_lines), Damian Synadions (@dsynadinos), and Rick Neighbarger (@MounTopHigh).