Addressing potential usability issues early in the human factors engineering (HFE) process can save your team time and money over the course of development while providing evidence of a robust human factors process to regulatory agencies. Cognitive walkthroughs are a powerful method to identify potential usability issues in early development stages when initial decisions about design directions are being made.
What are cognitive walkthroughs?
During a cognitive walkthrough, researchers typically present users with a low-fidelity model of the product. For example, a physical device might be represented by an early prototype or design sketches, while a graphical user interface can be modelled by a series of static screens. During the evaluation, users are asked to describe how they might use the actual product to accomplish specific tasks, “thinking aloud” to share their thought process in the moment. The researcher might also simulate aspects of interacting with the actual product by explaining how the device would respond to a user action or swapping between screens when a user states they would click a button. The walkthrough is followed by a debrief conversation where the user and researcher talk through any specific challenges encountered during their simulated use. This can even include brainstorming potential solutions.
What is a cognitive walkthrough, and why are they beneficial to medical device development?
Emergo by UL Human Factors Specialists share tips on conducting productive cognitive walkthroughs during early device development.
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