Who Should Moderate?

One of the basic tenets of usability testing — and of this book — is that it is almost impossible to remain objective vvhen conducting a usability test of your own product. There is simply too strong a tendency to lead participants in a direction that you want the results to go, rather than acting as a neutral enabler of the process. This is even true for experienced test moderators vvho conduct the test from an external control room. In fact, asking someone to test his or her own product is like asking parents to objectively evalúate the abilities of theirchild. It is an impossible endeavor.

Having said that, if there is only you available to test your product, do so. In almost every case, it is still better to test than not to test, even if you must do the testing yourself. However, for the long term, you would want to be out of the self-testing business as soon as possible.

Imagine that you want to conduct a test on a product for which you have primar}' responsibility, and if possible you would like someone less involved with the product to conduct the test. You can help develop the test materiaüs, make arrangements, and select participants, but you need a more objective person to handle the actual test moderating. Suppose also that your organizaron currently has no in-house testing staff and does not plan to introduce one shortly. To whom should you look for help?

The following sources represent a number of areas from which you can find candidates who possess the requisite skills to conduct a test, or who could head up the beginnings of an interna! testing group. They may or may not already be working on your product.