Users Begin to Demand Software Usability Tests: Boeing requiring vendors to follow new usability standard for products. This is an interesting article. I like how the MS rep says “customers don’t ask for usability” – which of course rings true. But then customers are implicitly asking for usability when they can’t find what they need and want, are lost, or don’t know what is available to them. The Inmates Are Running The Asylum talks about the endemic problem of products engineered for engineers and not for people. It seems to me that this new common format for usability testing is a nice step. More information on the Common Industry Format for Usability Test Reports (CIF) can be found at: http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/iusr/
