Phase 2: Test

Prototyping with Fab

Group

Subject

Your subject is "".

Teammates

    Tutor

    Your tutor is .

    Your appointment is on .

    Part 3 Rules Reminder

    Click here to review rules

    Before the meetings:

    • Know the subject of your appointment.
      You must have read the course modules and prepared the questions you wish to discuss with the tutor.

    • Know how to locate the progress of your team.
      Take the time to formulate the difficulties encountered and the positive points. Don't wait several weeks before reporting problems.

    • Organize a meeting.
      Except in exceptional cases, find yourself in the same place. A suitable place (quiet) with a good internet connection, for the smooth running of your interview.

    During meetings:

    • Your presence is mandatory at all meetings.
      Any absence must be justified to your tutor before the meeting in the Slack channel of your group.

    • Your camera must be on.
      The tutor is there to accompany you synchronously, not to talk to an avatar.

    • Behave like a professional.
      Adopt an employee posture in a company in all circumstances: holding in front of the camera, appropriate language, listening skills, correct clothing.

    • Lead this project in good spirit.
      Your participation in the meetings is mandatory and is part of the course. You are not a cruise passenger. Remember to react to the comments made to your group but also to interact with the other groups present.
      When the tutor gives the speech, everyone must speak!

    • Take advantage of your appointments collectively.
      You must divide up the roles: designate as many "scribes" as necessary for each meeting. It is mandatory to write a group interview report and post it in the group channel at the end of the meeting.

    Outside of meetings:

    • Collaborate with the tools at your disposal:

      • Slack:
        The group communication must be done on Slack in your group channel.
        → If you discuss elsewhere, your tutor cannot accompany you, it is a waste of time, resources and especially advice.
        → Make reports and post them on Slack to get feedback from your tutor.
        → Individual maluses will weight your final score according to your participation.

        Any student who is not on Slack at the beginning of Part 3 will be graded 0 for Part 3.

        Any student who does not participate in the Slack channel of their group will be graded 0 for Part 3.

      • Zoom:
        You can use Zoom in group at any time to chat in video and share your screens: type /zoom in your Slack group channel, a button will appear in the channel to join a Zoom room.

        When launching a Zoom room for the first time, you will have to validate your account by clicking on the "Authorize Zoom" link, then connect with SSO ("Sign in with SSO").
        → In the field "Your company domain", enter "em-lyon".
        → Finally, authenticate on the emlyon portal.

    • Be there for others.
      Reactivity towards your tutor and your collaborators on Slack is essential. Put yourself in the shoes of a professional who leads a project as a team.

    • Document
      You must constantly document what you are doing. Keep as much record as possible of the exchanges and work done so that you can analyze what worked in the project and what didn't.


    At the end of the previous stage you have chosen with your tutor the most promising proposal. The goal of this second phase is to improve this proposal using end-users feedback.

    Why testing a prototype?
    Testing a prototype with end-users is essential : it will allow to discover real issues. Knowing how to identify problems and challenges is the best way to improve a proposal and make a relevant iteration of a prototype.

    Bad feedbacks on a prototype are good news! This means that there is a real pain point from which you can iterate to come up with an even better proposal. Don't take criticism and negative feedback personally. Use them to move your project forward. On the other hand, a test which give only good feedbackd is suspicious. Perfect ideas often lead to poor projects!
    The “test phase” is an iterative time based on the proposals you made during the prototype phase.

    Due to the COVID19 outbreak you will probably not be able to organize face-to-face meetings with your users, so we advise you to use Zoom or other video conferencing solution for your meetings.

    This is a team activity!
    Although the work is collective, the evaluation will be individual ! and mainly based on your involvement in the project and in the group's dynamics

    How to conduct a test?

    The funnel approach in interview means asking broad, general questions first, then leading in to more specific, tougher questions.

    Funnel consists of four basic steps:

    1. Introduction
      Introduce yourself, briefly explain the purpose of the test and allow the participant(s) to comment or ask questions.
    2. General information related to the topic
      Query the tester with general questions. Talk about his habits.
    3. Behavior related to particular issues
      Ask him to express himself on your application, product or service. Feel free to use the prototype for this part.
    4. Constructive suggestions for improvement
      Ask him how you could improve your prototype

    Your goal with the testing is to improve your proposal by confronting it with real user feedback. Here your users are the real experts: they have the knowledge you are looking for! These tests will allow them to pass on that knowledge to you. To test a prototype, you need to be 2 persons: 1 interviewer & 1 scrivener.
    Never give advices or instructions for use! You are trying to see the spontaneous use of your prototype. Just observe and be empathic.

    To learn more about user testing, you can consult these resources:

    You must methodically follow the following steps:

    1. Prepare your tests

    Define your ideal product

    Write meticulously the requirements specification of your ideal product including your tutor's feedback on your proposal. You can use the template provided inside your Notion documentation

    Write your test protocol

    Write down your test protocol in detail: you will find a template inside your Notion documentation

    Recruit testers

    You must recruit a minimum of 3 users !
    The tests must be individual, you cannot do "grouped" sessions with the 3 users at the same time. However you can schedule the 3 tests in a row on the same slot.

    2. Test your prototype

    Greet your tester and explain the test process

    Start the meeting by following the qualitative interview guide provided on your Notion documentation.

    Test your prototype with at least 3 users

    Be sure to test impartially, ask neutral and objective questions. Don't influence the testers and don't contradict them if their comments seem negative to you.


    3. Improve your prototype

    Review the results of the tests with your team

    You must make a new model and keep the previous version as is. To show the evolution of your prototype all the iterations will be presented side by side at the final exhibition.

    Insert at least 3 pictures of your new model in your Notion documentation.

    An iteration is a new version of your prototype that integrates observations made during user tests. an iteration is a change that improves usage thanks to feedback.

    For example here is a smartphone speaker prototype and its iterations:

    proto
    Proposal
    lego dock
    First iteration
    Selective Laser Sintering
    Second iteration

    The first iteration is foldable to integrates the mobility needs & and the second iteration is still foldable and improves sound quality.

    The design of each iteration has been improved through the analysis of user test results.


    4. Test your iteration

    This is a team activity!


    5. Refine the requirements specification

    Update the requirements specification on your Notion documentation according to the results of your tests, it will serve as the basis for building the final version of your prototype in the next phase of the course.


    Assignment

    Deliverables have to be uploaded on your Notion documentation at least 24 hours before your appointment with your tutor, which is on .

    Evaluation

    Your user tests will be evaluated from 0 to 20 on :

    • Definition of the dream product: 2 points
      Approach, define problems & functions to solve it
    • Definition of the testing protocol: 3 points
      Define test sequence, user profile
    • Conduct of tests: 3 points
      Identify user difficulties, transcription of user feedback.
    • Relevance of the choices made to iterate: 3 points
      Selection process, improvments to make.
    • Quality of the iterations: 6 points
      Fabrication, documentation, improvments
    • Evolution of the requirements specification: 1 point
      Use user feedback to improve
    • Quality of communication: 2 points

    Now that you have completed your tests, it's time to move on to Design!

    Showtime