Testing a prototype with real users — Examples

Example 1 — Goal-shaped tasks written before the build

A prototype of an order-tracking flow is half built and the team is writing task cards from the screens that already exist. Rewrite the three draft tasks as goals in the participant’s language, and note the neutral reply each one invites.

Draft tasks (written from the screens)
  1. Tap "Orders", then tap the order row, then check the status.
  2. Use the search field to find order 8841.
  3. Tell us what you think of the status screen.

Solution

Task 1  "Find out when your last order is arriving."
Task 2  "One of your orders has not shown up. Look into it."
Task 3  "You have moved house — update where your orders go."

Neutral replies held ready:
  "is this right?"     -> "there is no right answer; go on what you see"
  "what do I click?"   -> "where would you look first?"

Each task states a goal, so the session tests whether the flow can be used rather than whether the instructions were followed, and the rehearsed replies stop the one finding that matters from being replaced by a path the moderator guided. The usual mistake is writing the tasks after the build, which produces cards that match the screens instead of the question.

Example 2 — Pilot first, then two columns of notes

A colleague has agreed to walk the whole session once. Record that pilot in the same format you will use for participants, and show the fixes it produces before anyone is paid to take part.

Pilot notes, raw
  clicked the Orders header twice, nothing happened
  "oh, I expected the row to open"
  reached the status screen at 0:48
  asked "is this the right place?"
  the moderator answered "yes" — the participant then stopped exploring

Solution

Action                                Quote                          Time
clicked Orders header, no response    "I expected the row to open"   0:12
clicked the row, reached status       —                              0:48
re-asked whether this was correct     "is this the right place?"     —
moderator answered, exploring stopped

Fix before participants: make the Orders header a link, and rehearse
the neutral reply for "is this the right place?".

Keeping actions and quotes in separate columns shows that the evidence is the unresponsive header, while the quote explains why the participant then stopped, and the moderator’s answer is visible as the moment the finding was lost. The usual failure is skipping the pilot and spending the first real session on the same dead link.