Wizard of Oz Testing
A usability testing method where users interact with a system they believe to be autonomous, but which is actually operated by a human. Essential for testing concepts and interactions before full development.
81 topics found for:
“early testing”
Smoke Testing
A preliminary testing method to check whether the most crucial functions of a software application work, without going into finer details. Important for identifying major issues early in the development process and ensuring the stability of digital products.
Test Environment
An environment used for testing software to identify issues and ensure quality before production deployment. Important for detecting and fixing bugs to ensure the software's reliability and performance.
Shift-Left Testing
A practice of performing testing activities earlier in the software development lifecycle to identify and address issues sooner. Essential for improving software quality, reducing defects, and accelerating development cycles in digital product design.
Burn-In
The process of running a system for an extended period to detect early failures and ensure reliability. Important for ensuring the stability and performance of digital products before full-scale deployment.
UAT
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is the final phase of the software testing process where actual users test the software to ensure it meets their requirements. Crucial for validating that the software functions correctly in real-world scenarios before its release.
Prototyping
The process of creating an early model of a product to test and validate ideas, features, and design choices before full-scale production. Essential for validating design choices and gathering user feedback early in the development process.
A/A Testing
A method of testing two identical versions of a webpage or app to ensure the accuracy of the testing tool. Important for validating the effectiveness of A/B testing tools and processes.
Alpha Test
A preliminary testing phase conducted by internal staff to identify bugs before releasing the product to external testers or customers. Crucial for ensuring product quality and functionality before broader release.
White Box Testing
A testing method that examines the internal structure, design, and coding of a software application to verify its functionality. Essential for ensuring the correctness and efficiency of the code in digital product development.
Formative Testing
A type of usability testing conducted during the design process to identify issues and improve the design iteratively. Crucial for refining designs and ensuring usability before final release.
Static Testing
A testing method that examines the code, documentation, and requirements without executing the program. Important for identifying defects early in the development lifecycle, improving the quality and reducing the cost of digital products.
Automated Testing
The use of software tools to run tests on code automatically, ensuring functionality and identifying defects without manual intervention. Crucial for maintaining high code quality and efficiency in the development process.
10-Second Test
A usability test to see what impression users get within the first 10 seconds of interacting with a product or page. Important for designers to quickly gauge initial user impressions and improve immediate engagement.
Canary Testing
A deployment strategy where a new version is released to a small subset of users to detect any issues before a full rollout. Crucial for minimizing risk and ensuring the stability of digital products during updates and deployments.
TDD
Test-Driven Development (TDD) is a software development methodology where tests are written before the code that needs to pass them. Essential for ensuring high code quality and reducing bugs.
Lower Environment
A non-production environment used for development and testing before deployment to production. Important for ensuring that changes are thoroughly tested before going live.
MVP
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development. Essential for validating product ideas quickly and cost-effectively, allowing teams to learn about customer needs without fully developing the product.
Paper Prototyping
A method of creating and testing user interfaces using hand-drawn sketches and mockups on paper. Essential for early-stage design validation and gathering user feedback.
Design Validation
The process of testing and evaluating a design to ensure it meets user needs and business goals before final implementation. Crucial for ensuring that designs are effective and meet intended objectives.
Pilot
A preliminary version of a project or system used to test and validate its feasibility before full-scale implementation. Crucial for identifying potential issues and making necessary adjustments to improve the final product.
Rapid Prototyping
The process of quickly creating a preliminary version of a product to test and validate ideas before full-scale development. Important for validating design concepts and gathering user feedback early.
Usability Testing
A technique used to evaluate a product or system by testing it with real users to identify any usability issues and gather qualitative and quantitative data on their interactions. Crucial for identifying and resolving usability issues to improve user satisfaction and performance.
User Testing
The process of evaluating a product by testing it with real users to gather feedback and identify usability issues. Essential for validating design decisions and ensuring the product meets user needs.
Testing Effect
The phenomenon where taking a test on material improves long-term retention of that material more than additional study sessions. Crucial for designing educational tools and methods that enhance learning and retention.
5-Second Test
A usability test where users are shown a design for 5 seconds to measure recall and initial reactions. Important for designers to test how well key information and elements are conveyed quickly to users.
First Click Testing
A usability testing method that measures the first click users make on a webpage to determine if they can successfully navigate to their goal. Essential for evaluating and improving the navigational structure of a website.
Squint Test
A technique used to assess the visual hierarchy of a design by squinting to see which elements stand out the most. Essential for evaluating the effectiveness of a design's layout and emphasis.
Placing Bets
A strategic approach where multiple potential solutions are tested to identify the most promising one. Crucial for innovation and reducing risk in decision-making.
Think-Aloud Protocol
A usability testing method where participants verbalize their thoughts while interacting with a product. Essential for understanding user thought processes and identifying usability issues.
Look Elsewhere Effect
A statistical phenomenon where a large number of hypotheses are tested, increasing the chance of a rare event being observed. Crucial for understanding and avoiding false positives in data analysis.
Continuous Integration
A software development practice where code changes are frequently integrated into a shared repository, with each change being verified by automated tests. Essential for catching errors early and improving the quality of software.
Design Sprint
A time-constrained, intensive process that helps teams quickly design, prototype, and test ideas. Important for rapidly developing and validating design solutions.
Customer Validation
The process of testing product ideas and assumptions with real customers to ensure they meet market needs. Essential for reducing risk and ensuring product-market fit.
PoC
Proof of Concept (PoC) is a demonstration, usually in the form of a prototype or pilot project, to verify that a concept or theory has practical potential. Crucial for validating ideas, demonstrating feasibility, and securing support for further development in product design and innovation processes.
Feature Flag
A technique used in software development to enable or disable features in a production environment without deploying new code, allowing for controlled feature rollouts. Essential for managing feature releases and testing in live environments.
Design Thinking
A user-centered approach to problem-solving that involves empathy, ideation, prototyping, and testing. Crucial for developing innovative and effective solutions that meet user needs.
Deductive Research
A research approach that starts with a theory or hypothesis and uses data to test it, often moving from general to specific. Essential for validating theories and making informed decisions based on data.
Speed Dating
A research method in which participants interact with a series of potential product concepts in quick succession, providing rapid feedback on multiple ideas. Useful for quickly gathering user feedback on various concepts and iterating based on their preferences.
SDLC
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system. Essential for managing the complexities of software development and ensuring project success.
Central Limit Theorem
A statistical theory that states that the distribution of sample means approximates a normal distribution as the sample size becomes larger, regardless of the population's distribution. Important for making inferences about population parameters and ensuring the validity of statistical tests in digital product design.
Build Server
A server dedicated to automating the process of building and compiling code, running tests, and generating software artifacts. Crucial for ensuring continuous integration and maintaining the integrity of the codebase in digital product development.
MVE
Minimum Viable Experience (MVE) is the simplest version of a product that delivers a complete and satisfying user experience while meeting core user needs. Essential for rapidly validating product concepts and user experience designs while ensuring that even early versions of a product provide value and a positive impression to users.
Market Validation
The process of determining whether there is a need or demand for a product in the target market, often through testing and feedback. Crucial for ensuring that a product will meet market needs and be successful.
Customer Development
A framework for discovering and validating the right market for a product, building the right product features, and validating the business model. Important for ensuring that products meet market needs and customer expectations.
Heuristic Evaluation
A usability inspection method where experts review a user interface against a set of heuristics to identify usability issues. Crucial for identifying usability problems early in the design process.
Evaluative Research
Research conducted to assess the effectiveness, usability, and impact of a design or product. Essential for validating design decisions and improving user experiences.
Cognitive Walkthrough
A usability evaluation method where evaluators walk through tasks to identify potential user difficulties. Essential for improving user interfaces and ensuring usability.
Eye Tracking
A technology and research method that measures where and how long a person looks at various areas on a screen or interface. Crucial for understanding user attention and improving interface design.
Train/Test
A method of splitting a dataset into two subsets: one for training a model and another for testing its performance. Fundamental for developing and evaluating machine learning models in digital product design.
BDD
Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is a software development approach where applications are specified and designed by describing their behavior. Important for ensuring clear communication and shared understanding between developers and stakeholders.
MVF
Minimum Viable Feature (MVF) is the smallest possible version of a feature that delivers value to users and allows for meaningful feedback collection. Crucial for rapid iteration in product development, enabling teams to validate ideas quickly and efficiently while minimizing resource investment.
UCD
User-Centered Design (UCD) is an iterative design approach that focuses on understanding users' needs, preferences, and limitations throughout the design process. Crucial for creating products that are intuitive, efficient, and satisfying for the intended users.
CRO
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. Crucial for improving user engagement and achieving business goals.
NPD
New Product Development (NPD) is the complete process of bringing a new product to market, from idea generation to commercialization. Essential for companies to innovate, stay competitive, and meet evolving customer needs through a structured approach to creating and launching new offerings.
MVC
Model-View-Controller (MVC) is an architectural pattern that separates an application into three main logical components: the Model (data), the View (user interface), and the Controller (processes that handle input). Essential for creating modular, maintainable, and scalable software applications by promoting separation of concerns.
CTA
Call to Action (CTA) is a prompt that encourages users to take a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. Crucial for guiding user behavior and increasing engagement or conversions on digital platforms.
Acceptance Criteria
Specific conditions that must be met for a product or feature to be considered complete and satisfactory. Essential for product managers and developers to ensure clarity and alignment on what constitutes "done".
Normal Data Distribution
A symmetrical, bell-shaped distribution of data where most observations cluster around the mean. Fundamental in statistics and crucial for many analytical techniques used in digital product design and data-driven decision making.
m12n
Numeronym for the word "Modularization" (M + 12 letters + N), dividing a system into separate, interchangeable modules that can be developed, tested, and maintained independently. Important for improving maintainability and scalability of systems.