Usability Views Article Details  home | timeline | recent | popular | e-reports | userati | books | about  Cleaning up for the housekeeper or why it makes sense to do both Expert Review and Usability Testing (25 Nov 2004) When I was a kid, my friend’s mother always made her clean up her room before the housekeeper came. We were always perplexed by this. Wasn’t that the housekeeper’s job? Actually, the housekeeper was very clear on this for us: She did NOT straighten. She cleaned. She had a specific amount of time set to clean the house. If she spent that time distracted with straightening, she would not get to cleaning. The same concept applies here. Doing ER is like straightening up before the housekeeper gets there. If you conduct ER first, ER provides feedback that allows the developers to ‘tidy up’ the interface so that the usability testing can focus on cleaning. If you don’t straighten first, both the tester and the participant are distracted and waste time. However, if the right methods are applied at the right time, ultimate outcome is a really clean hous, er interface. Article URL: http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/upa_voice/volumes/2004/nov/cleaning_up.html Read 41 more articles from Usability Professionals Association sorted by date, popularity, or title. Next Article: Criticizing Our Colleagues: Tough, But Kind     This site is a labour of love built by Chris McEvoy