I'm starting a weekly Usability Mastermind

Lately I've been surprised, humbled, delighted, and sometimes driven up a wall by the amount of insight and direction generated by even the most informal user testing.

It's one thing to hear accepted knowledge, such as "user testing is crucial", nod automatically... and then go back to nothing but code for the rest of the week.

It's another to spend twenty minutes with someone over Zoom, watch them go through (what you thought was) a simple flow, and see how much they stumble, fumble, and miss, revealing how much work is still needed on that "done" feature.

It's yet another — and perhaps the most sobering — to install an app, not "get" what it's about within thirty seconds, uninstall it, and think: Wait— is this what's happening to my users too?

With that in mind, and with a little experience I was lucky to gain in the past months, I'm starting a weekly usability-focused mastermind to help each other out.

The essential bits:

• Go through a product's flow or feature thinking aloud ("I see a button that says 'Next', I'm inclined to click it but I'm afraid I might lose unsaved work"), have someone else go through a flow or feature of your product, or both.
• Free to participate.
• 1-hour Zoom or Meet sessions, day and time TBD based on responses. Staying to chat afterwards of course welcome.
• As feedback receiver: your product must be at least a prototype or (stretching it) an interactive wireframe. No static mock-ups or landing pages.

Interested? Let me know via the form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeWQP3FZeUt8F1lmu7YEjGHqvxodFvPt5BSNHCT8eqMtUDNWQ/viewform or add a comment below.