1. Usability is not a secret sauce
Usability isn’t something we can bake in at the end of the design sprint rather, it must be developed and refined throughout the entire process. This is why we recommend a user-centered approach throught the process as captured by the Axis Design Sprint github repository.
2. Set your Expectations
Not everything can be tested, due to the many constraints such as limited time, budget, and access to users.
3. Defer issues but do not deny them
Even with a tight schedule, it is imperative that we put our designs under a critical lens to identify scope for improvement. It is perfectly acceptable to defer these changes to a later release. More on this here.
4. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize
Pick a few design principles or considerations that are key to your application and evaluate those criteria.
5. No amount of testing will make your design perfect so instead aim for good enough
Design is inherently about trade-offs, so your design will NEVER be perfect. In the spirit of iterative refinement, you should accept that! Your test, just like your design, should be good enough to surface the immediate problems that are impediments to the user.
6. Not everything requires user-testing
Some things can be tested by your internal team or against industry standards or best practices, i.e. which chart type serves best for a certain analysis? Software tools can also help ease some burden of testing, i.e. Sim Daltonism can be used for testing accessibility of colors.
7. Not everything has to be ‘INTUITIVE’
This is especially applicable to data analysis, where it takes time to produce insights. Also, in expecting everything to be automatically intuitive, we discredit our user’s ability to learn.
8. Some things you just can’t control
Such as...
- Availability and committment of users
- Accelerated timelines
- Limitations in technology
- Limited budget