Improving the Usability Evaluation Technique, Heuristic Evaluation, through the Use of Collaborative Software

This paper examines how to increase the productivity of the software usability evaluation technique called heuristic evaluation (HE) through the use of collaborative software. Building off of a brainstorming research, it is theorized that part of HE resembles brainstorming, in that it is a creative process that can benefit from anonymous, parallel production afforded by collaborative software. Approximately 230 participants were involved in a lab study to compare traditional HE to HE conducted in face-to-face and distributed settings using collaborative software. It is found that the addition of collaborative software significantly improves HE by eliminating unnecessary duplication work, increasing overall productivity, and by increasing group awareness and consensus earlier on in HE. It is also found that distributed groups do suffer some process losses due to lack of media richness.