Spotlight on Maggie Duvall

Dell

“Morae is an incredible tool that offers powerful functionality and flexibility - it allows you do to usability testing anywhere, achieving the same results for the fraction of the cost of hiring third party vendors,” said Maggie Duvall, Sr. Information Architect and Project Manager at Dell.

Duvall began using Morae while working for her previous employer, IBM Global Business Consulting. Before discovering it, she was forced to use outside vendors to conduct usability tests in traditional labs. Currently, she uses Morae to test different areas of www.dell.com to pinpoint usability problems.

To begin the usability test process, Duvall's team writes a screener description in order to recruit the right audience and target demographic for the specific study. They then use a third party to recruit testers that fit that description. Next, the team crafts a questionnaire to use during the sessions.

After setting up the Morae Observer, the team invites stakeholders to remotely attend the scheduled sessions. Using Morae, Duvall's group conducts the usability tests in the labs at Dell, or sometimes at a different facility.

The Dell team analyzes the results from the tests and creates a highlight CD to convey and prioritize the major issues the test session uncovered. Duvall especially appreciates how easy it is to assemble a video using the storyboard.

“We then set up a presentation to inform stakeholders of our findings, show them a highlight CD, craft a roadmap to fix the problems, and retest dell.com after the redesign to validate the effectiveness of the changes,” Duvall explained.

“Sometimes I use Morae as a proof-of-concept to validate specific design issues – this prevents teams spending a lot of precious time rehashing the same issues over and over, and enables us to make informed user-centered decisions,” she said.

Duvall is planning many more usability tests with Morae, and she doesn't anticipate having any problems. Though if she does, she knows where she'll turn.

“The customer service has been absolutely fantastic,” she said.