Usability report

A usability report records the results of usability testing in a form that people who were not in the room can act on. It states what was tested and with whom, what happened, and, most importantly, what to fix and in what order.

What goes in it

A one-page summary first: the headline problems and the recommendation. Then the method in a few lines (who took part, which tasks, what was tested). Then the findings, each with a short description, the evidence, and a severity rating. Evidence means a count and a quote or a clip, such as “four of six participants chose the wrong button”, not “users found it confusing”. Close with recommendations that name the change, not just the problem.

Ordering by severity

Rank by consequence, not by how often the issue came up. A problem that stops a task cold outranks three that cause mild hesitation. A simple scale (blocks the task, slows it, annoys) is enough, as long as you apply it consistently. Without ranking, a team will fix the easiest things first and call it done.

What goes wrong

Reports go unread when they are long. The people who need to decide are not going to wade through forty pages, so lead with the five findings that matter and put the rest in an appendix. Do include what worked, too, so the team does not undo it. And keep the report separate from a heuristic evaluation: one reports what users did, the other what an expert predicts. Mixing them blurs which claims have evidence behind them.