At last night’s 3rd GeekUp Nottingham we had @prettierpixels come all the way from Preston to deliver a fascinating talk: “Thrifty Testing: Usability on a budget”.

We learned the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to get usability feedback on your website or app was to observe people (friends, family, strangers at starbucks) having a first look around, trying to perform a task set by you and to get their feedback. Alex uses a deviation of Steve Kruggs do-it yourself method detailed in his book “Rocket Surgery Made Easy” (which I’m very much looking forward to reading when @dextermixwith brings it into the office on Monday!).

We volunteered up a website @neilkilbride and I have been working on, to be tested. The results were fascinating! Seeing a first time user to our application and getting their reaction to their experience was a real insight.

As soon as Alex posts up his slides, I’ll supply a link. Well worth going along to, highly enjoyable, learned a lot, had a great natter with some awesome people and drank lots of wine! Thanks to all who came, but especially @prettierpixels for coming all the way down to share his knowledge with us. ( :

Next #geekup #nottingham we’ve got @kevinrutherford (http://www.kevinrutherford.co.uk/) talking about “Flow” – releasing more & more often. We also have @dextermixwith talking about the trials and tribulations he’s found whilst adopting the agile mentality. Sign up here