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Many electronics companies are founded and managed by engineers... The typical scenario goes something like this: Peter Programmer works at XYZ Corporation and decides to begin a business of his own. He has a good idea and creates a profitable product. The company grows and additional product lines ate created.

Sounds good so far, but Peter hits a wall as his one good product saturates the market and his new lines aren't nearly as profitable. The situation gets ugly fast. Peter blames marketing and then the layoffs begin.

What happened? Engineers were calling the shots, and in all their technical prowess they brushed aside the subject of usability. Customers were considered inept and technically incompetent if they couldn't adjust to the intricacies of the new products. The engineers didn't understand why the products wouldn't sell; the code was beautiful!

Usability testing can help you understand the weaknesses of a product before it reaches the marketplace. Chances are that your company does not want to spend the capital to setup a full-blown usability lab. However, with just a modest amount of equipment and effort, you can uncover some serious product glitches and potentially earn your company thousands of dollars and a sterling reputation. The first step is to get a video camera, a product prototype, and a small sample of your target audience.

The second step is to create a list of tasks that you would like the evaluators to perform, using the product. Be sure that the tasks use a range of the product's function and that they are clearly written. Design the list for evaluators to complete in roughly 30 minutes. You will find, depending on the product, that some evaluators will tire and become frustrated if they cannot progress through the tasks in a half an hour or so. Also, limiting the time of each test will save you from hours and hours of video tape analysis.

Next, set up the camera to face the computer monitor and instruct your evaluators to talk aloud as they perform the tasks from the list. They should talk about what they are thinking as they use the product to accomplish the tasks. You may need to prompt them with questions about what tasks they are performing and what keys they are pressing. Even if they are frustrated, don't reveal how to perform tasks, and keep rolling. Usability testing can be cruel.

Finally, observe what the people say and how they use the product. If there is a serious problem with the interface, function key assignments, or something else, you will hear about it from several people. After each evaluation, analyze what you heard and saw. Take that information, along with an edited video tape and meet with the product manager. Show your results, explain the problems, and suggest improvements. Low-budget usability testing will often unearth grave problems with even the most highly regarded product ideas. If you can save one product from failure, you may even justify better equipment for your next evaluation at a customer test site -- with luck, located somewhere in the South of France.