Usability Test Plan
By Drew · Published · Updated
Plans a usability test with realistic tasks, success criteria, participant criteria and an observation sheet so findings are comparable across sessions.
Prompt template
## Usability Test Plan
Plan a usability test.
- What is being tested: [text: Prototype or live feature name]
- Key user goals: [textarea: The top things users must be able to do]
- Participants: [textarea: Who to recruit and any screening needs]
- Number of participants: [number: 3, 12]
- Test format: [dropdown: Moderated in person, Moderated remote, Unmoderated remote]
- Session length: [text: 45 minutes]
- Known concerns: [textarea: Screens or flows the team worries about]
Turn each user goal into a task written as a scenario with a reason, not instructions ("You need to move your appointment to Friday" rather than "Click Reschedule"), and never use words that appear on the interface. For each task define success criteria in advance: completed unaided, completed with help, failed, plus a time or error threshold that counts as a problem. Order tasks from easy to hard and keep to what fits the session length. Describe participant criteria, a short screener, and the mix needed. Add a moderator script: welcome, consent, think-aloud instructions, neutral prompts such as "What are you thinking?" and a rule to not help early. Provide an observation sheet with a row per task and columns for success, time, errors, quotes and severity of each issue. Explain how to rate severity and combine findings across participants into a ranked issue list with recommendations.