User
Advisory Panels
Issues addressed
- “To get a good understanding of any issues and how to address them, we really need users who have encountered this situation and can relate the problem to us”
- “We need some quality feedback on this design topic, and we need it now”
Your challenge: Get the best data, quickly!
Techniques that are used to identify and obtain end-users for usability activities often result in whatever 20 users have free time available -- and maybe want to pick up a few bucks too. It is more than likely that this sample does not represent your target market, and your product's design should not be influenced by their experiences and opinions.
A more effective method is to identify a representative, effective, motivated, and readily-accessible set of end-users or customers from your target market. For most projects, these individuals will have had real-life experience with speific tasks of concern with your product -- or even your competitor's products.
A set of such users is called a user panel.
I execute strategies for building, maintaining, and utilizing and effective user panel that can be used for all phases of usability/User-Centered Design activities in your project and your product’s evolution. The advantage is that quality usability feedback can be obtained from pre-screened users at a moment's notice.
Last update: May 07, 2002
(c) 2002 Don Hameluck Usability Consulting Inc.
