How Not To Do User Testing

• Perform tests only after a final product has already been rolled out
• Use your tests to reify assumptions already built into the product
• Test once and then never again because hey, you’re finished
• Refuse to accept the validity of any given test until a statistically representative sample of your user populace has been obtained (it’ll never happen)
• Never change your testing tasks and procedures, even the ones that prove to be deeply flawed, poorly worded, uninformative
• Ask users for their opinions rather than observing what they actually do. “Do you like this background gradient?” is a particularly apt question.
• Conversely, test only tasks you think are important without gauging what users think is important
• Collect personal information and video recordings during tests with no plans for how to secure the data or when to delete it
• Simply refuse to do user testing