Stop 07 · Usability & Heuristic EvaluationTopics · 5/8

Heuristic Evaluation Process

In short

Before you spend time and money on user testing, a few people with a checklist can catch the obvious problems in an afternoon. That's a heuristic evaluation, and it has a clear process.

A structured expert review of an interface against established usability principles (like Nielsen's heuristics) — a fast, low-cost way to catch obvious usability issues before user testing.

The jaadu sits at a desk checking a stack of exam papers with a red pen.

Think of it like this

Board exam paper checking

Each examiner checks answer sheets alone using the same marking scheme. Then the head examiner compares marks and settles differences. Heuristic evaluation is the same: separate reviewers, one checklist, then a combined list.

Watch it happen

Running a heuristic evaluation

Scope

Solo review

Merge

Rate

Report

1/5Agree on the flows to review, who the users are, and which heuristics you'll use, usually Nielsen's ten.

The big ideas

What you need to know

More than one reviewer

One person misses a lot. Each extra reviewer finds new issues, so aim for a small group.

Review alone first

Independent reviews avoid groupthink. Discussion comes only after everyone finishes.

Severity guides priority

Rate how often it happens, how bad it is, and whether users can work around it.

Show, don't just tell

Every issue needs a screenshot and the exact place it happens. Developers can then find it quickly.

See it in code

Walk through the code

excel

1| Screen   | Issue                       | Heuristic | Severity |2| Checkout | No total shown until last   | 1 Status  | 3        |3| Login    | OTP field clears on error   | 9 Recover | 4        |4| Search   | Filters reset on back       | 3 Control | 2        |5=COUNTIF(D2:D4, ">=3")

1/3One row per issue, with columns for where, what, which heuristic and how bad.

A simple findings sheet. The COUNTIF counts serious issues (severity 3 or 4) to show how urgent the fixes are.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Reviewers sitting together and agreeing on every issue as they go.

Do this instead

Review alone first, then merge. You'll find far more problems.

Oops

Delivering a list of 60 issues with no priority.

Do this instead

Sort by severity and lead with the top five. Teams act on short, clear lists.

Your mission

Mini heuristic evaluation

~45 min

Quick check

Why should reviewers do their first pass separately?

Go deeper

1Run a full heuristic evaluation on a real app, documenting a violation for each heuristic you find.
2Learn why heuristic evaluation complements, but doesn't replace, real user testing.
3Practice rating each finding by severity to help prioritize fixes.