Hallway Testing – The Cool Face of Usability
summary
Defines hallway testing as sitting a random outsider at an app or API and asking a simple task, shows a concrete failure on intercity PL where a colorblind user cannot tell availability, reports a data integration platform where newcomers fail because UI expects double‑click but only drag-and‑drop works, cites Jakob Nielsen’s claim that five users find ~85% of major usability flaws, explains who to recruit, when to run tests, how to record results and why cognitive diversity matters.
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chapters (27)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:28Agenda
- 1:30What is Hallway Testing
- 1:54What is Usability Testing
- 2:31Usability Testing Methods
- 3:01Why Hallway Testing
- 4:53Accidental Hallway Testing
- 6:19Colorblind Husband
- 6:45Cognitive Diversity
- 7:39Hallway Testing in Practice
- 7:52Story Time
- 11:08Does it need a GUI
- 11:24API Programming Interface
- 12:19Who should be tested
- 13:03Target audience and small group
- 13:14Usability flaws
- 14:18What can be tested
- 14:41Golden Rule of Testing
- 15:29Planning
- 15:42Reserve Time
- 16:56Repeat Repetition
- 17:17Never Guide a Tester
- 17:52Testing is not perfect
- 18:09They are not designers
- 18:29You just need your app
- 18:43Its cheap
- 19:23Questions
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