Testing a design sprint prototype in a day: usability testing for Sophos
Sophos ran a five-day Google Ventures Design Sprint to take a new tool from idea to prototype. Box UK handled the testing, running six sessions on the final day and turning the findings into a short, shareable report.
5
days from idea to prototype
6
hour long usability sessions
1
day of testing, on the last day of the sprint
In short
Sophos is a cyber security company, and its in-house UX team was working to build a user-centred design culture. Box UK supported that with a 12-month testing programme, and for the final project, Sophos ran a Google Ventures Design Sprint.
- Box UK managed all the testing, from recruiting and paying participants to the test plan and analysis.
- Our UX consultants ran six hour-long sessions on the last day.
- Findings went into a high-level infographic, with video highlights and full session recordings.
- Early feedback was very positive, giving Sophos the confidence to investigate the concept further.
Customer background
Sophos is a cyber security company. At the time of this project, more than 100 million users in 150 countries relied on its security software.
Its in-house UX team was working to embed a user-centred design culture across the business. To support that, Sophos agreed a 12-month testing programme with Box UK, which let its team run a set number of testing projects as and when they were needed.
The challenge
For the last project in the programme, Sophos wanted to try something different: a Google Ventures Design Sprint, which compresses designing, prototyping and testing an idea into five days.
The sprint challenge was to help people make informed decisions about their data, a timely question with GDPR about to come into force. With only five days, testing had to be ready as soon as the prototype was. So Sophos asked Box UK to handle all of it, leaving its own team free to focus on the problem and the solution.
Our approach
We agreed strict recruitment criteria with Sophos at the start, so we could begin finding participants and booking sessions straight away.
While Sophos’s team sketched solutions and turned the strongest ideas into a single hypothesis and a high-fidelity prototype, we wrote the test plan in parallel. We also made sure the prototype and the test had a clear structure, so feedback could be gathered and analysed quickly.
On the final day of the sprint, our UX consultants ran six hour-long usability sessions, testing how well the prototype met the sprint goal.
What we delivered
- A high-level infographic with key findings, metrics, participant quotes and suggested next steps.
- Short video highlights and recordings of every session.
- A playback to the Sophos team, with stakeholders joining remotely from the UK, USA and Germany.
The infographic and video clips were also shared more widely across Sophos, so people outside the project could quickly see what the study tested and what it found.
The outcome
Early feedback from participants was very positive, giving Sophos the confidence to investigate the concept further. It came away with a prototype tested by real users, and a clear set of next steps to take into design and development.
Frequently asked questions
A five-day process for answering a business question by designing, prototyping and testing an idea with users. Sophos used one to explore how to help people make informed decisions about their data.
Enough to see clear patterns. For Sophos’s design sprint, six hour-long sessions on a single day were enough to validate the concept and set next steps.
Yes. Sophos asked Box UK to handle recruitment, participant payment, the test plan and analysis, so its own team could focus on the problem and the prototype.
Because they show whether your product makes sense to people who don’t already know it. Working with Box UK gave Sophos access to non-Sophos customers and non-technical users, as well as a usability lab.
What this means
for your organisation
In a five-day sprint, testing has to be ready the moment the prototype is: participants recruited, sessions booked and a test plan written.
If you’re planning a sprint or a quick round of testing, send us a few lines about what you want to test. We’ll tell you how we’d set it up.
Talk to one of our digital experts
Sophie Collins
UX Designer
Do you need help maintaining product quality and business alignment?
Passionate about all things User Experience and Agile, Sophie has worked across the entire software delivery lifecycle.
With a background in Product Ownership and Software Testing, Sophie approaches UX with both pragmatism and quality, focusing on producing results which have value for both businesses and users.
Or call us on 020 7439 1900
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