Writing good task scenarios for usability testing

UX101 for designing good tasks to test your prototypes

Image from Freepik. Writing a good task scenario is like painting a scene

The most effective way of understanding if a design works, is to observe how people use it. During a usability test, we observe participants by giving them a task (or an activity) to do. Rather than ordering participants to “do task X” without an explanation, this short scenario sets the stage for the action and provide a context to complete the task. By writing good task scenarios for usability tests, we can test our products more robustly to collect the insights we need.

#1 List the main goals users need to accomplish on your product

List down these user goals as potential tasks for participants to do during a usability test.

• What is your product?
• Why do users want to use your product?

For example, users on a food delivery app may want to:

• Place an order for a meal
• Pre-book party food
• Collate orders for their friends/family

#2 Provide a realistic context

A task scenario should describe a realistic context in which the participant is using the product…