Developed by: Isabel Evans - University of Malta
These 12 heuristic questions are intended to provoke thought and ideas when designing or choosing a test tool. Elsewhere in this repository are explanations and action lists for each heuristic, plus background to the research.
A quick-start page and a downloadable meeting agenda using the heuristics as prompts are available, and can be used to start a conversation before deep diving into this repository. Review all the heuristics, and then decide where you need to deep-dive. You are unlikely to use the heuristics in a linear 1-12 way; you are more likely to iterate between the heuristics, finding out more about "Why?" as you explore "Who?" and "Context?"
A summary poster can be downloaded. Here is a thumbnail of the poster and a flowchart of the heuristics, clickable and accessible links are after the two illustrations.
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Click for example iterative flow through the heuristics
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The heuristics have been developed iteratively based on research data collected 2018 to 2024, and are being evaluated in industry case studies and expert reviews. They may/will continue to change based on those case studies and reviews.
The Heuristics and links to explanations, mini usage cases and activities to help you answer the questions:
H01. Why do we need this tool?
H02. Who will use or be affected by the tool?
H03. What previous experiences do people bring to the tool?
H04. What communication needs or preferences do those people have?
H05. Is this person's learning goal "tool mastery" or "task completion"?
H06. What learning preferences do those people have?
H07. Where will the tool be used?
H08. What workflows will the tool be part of?
H09. What risks are associated with those workflows?
H10. What autonomy of work styles is allowed in those workflows and teams?
Click for more information about how to use the heuristics
These questions deliberately have multiple interpretations and a myriad of answers. They are intended to help you to think widely and come up with ideas to consider, who to involve, questions to ask. There are no right answers – by asking the questions and following the corresponding activities, you will find interpretations and answers for your context.
You can start to use the heuristics as an agenda for a planning meeting, or as a checklist to aid fast insights, in a tight timebox, to help you decide which heuristics you want to use for a deep dive.
Each question is linked to an explanation, with things to think about, research points and evidence from industry contributors, key questions to ask yourself, plus pointers to quality attributes to consider in your specific context. The information we provide tells you why each heuristic is important to consider. To help you think about how to answer the questions, we have suggested activities, with links to external sources in case you need more information. More information on how to use the heuristics.
Click for Flowchart showing how to find your way around this repository
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Click for information about the Research
The heuristic questions and explanations are grounded in research data collected from surveys, workshops, interviews, and industry and academic literature in the period 2018-2023. They have been developed iteratively through a series of reviews with UX, accessibility, and testing industry experts and practitioners. This process is ongoing.Find out more about the research and the researcher.
See a list of links to preprints of research papers leading to the heuristics
NOTE: both the heuristics and the underlying explanations and activities are still draft. They are being developed in an iterative process which is looking at the content and the format of the materials. Example activities and links to further information are indicative, and to be replaced later. Format and medium will change. American spellings have been adopted. During evaluation of the heuristics, the repository will be frozen at the start of each case study/evaluation, and then changes made based on data from the evaluations, and from previous research to enrich the contents. Starting from a simple basis, the repository will grow over time.
If you use these heuristics please cite our work:
Evans, I., Porter, C., & Micallef, M. (2024). Heuristics-for-test-tool-design (Version 1.5.0) [Computer software]. https://github.com/hci-lab-um/heuristics-for-test-tool-design
Note: use the "Cite this repository" function for more options (e.g. bibtex).
This material is GPL-3.0 licenced.