The Pain of HCI Testing

Recently on the Project Aardvark blog, Michael Lehenbauer discusses his experiences doing user testing with his software, and I really feel his pain:

It's really frustrating to see all the different ways people can fail to successfully use Copilot. We've seen people who can't find Internet Explorer, people who type www.copilot.com into MSN instead of the address bar, people who successfully get connected but then don't realize that they're controlling the other person's computer instead of their own.

Seriously, Michael, for every software project there is a line that must be drawn. The line marks where every developer, designer, and necktie agree that this is the maximum limit of ease-of-use that the software will embrace. It marks the barest minimum competency that a user must have in order to use the software. "People this stupid can run Copilot, but no stupider." If you try to erase that line, you will experience despair and ruination at the hands of the very mouth-breathers you are trying to help.

I just hope you're charging enough for Copilot to make this agony worthwhile. No matter how easy your software is to use — and as a beta tester with prolific prior VNC experience, I can attest that Copilot is ridiculously easy to use — people will still find some way to fuck it up.

You cannot program your way out of users' problems like their mistyping the URL or, as Michael's shown, failure to correctly locate Internet Explorer. This is stuff you need to know if you're going to own a PC in the 21st century. Granted, the people Copilot is designed to help are among the worst PC users imaginable. Nonetheless, their inability to run a web browser is neither Fog Creek's fault nor Copilot's problem. You can do the safe thing and register numerous misspellings of your product name, such as copolit.com and copiolt.com, but at the end of the day, you still have to put pen to paper and write "user could not spell product name successfully".

It amazes me time and again that a user who can succeed at installing copious quantities of spyware: screensavers, "form management" applications, and fly-by-night software designed to "enhance your online searching experience" without trouble can't navigate a single webpage with assistance. Maybe Copilot should package their remote management software as a free .exe coupon for a discounted Rolex watch or an online prescription for Cialis.

Watching users butcher software by ham-fisting their use of it makes me long for the days of Buck v. Bell. So I feel for you, Michael. It's rough, and if you can bite your tongue when people start navigating around the Desktop by physically pressing the mouse to the screen, then you're a better person than I.