A practical guide to using software usability labs: lessons learned at IBM

Abstract Usability evaluation is a key component of a user-centred design process. Access to a usability laboratory can greatly facilitate the process of empirically measuring user performance, but the mere presence of a usability laboratory does not assure usable products. Rather, the laboratory must be used within an evaluation process. The process described in this article has five phases: designing the evaluation, preparing to conduct the evaluation, conducting the evaluation, analysing the data, and reporting the results. Lessons learned by the authors while they practised this evaluation process with a variety of products are summarized for possible use by other usability organizations.