Comments for Optimal Workshop http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog We build tools for measuring usability Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:19:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Comment on Online or offline card sorting? by Andrew Mayfield http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/moderated-card-sorting-with-optimalsort/#comment-57 Andrew Mayfield Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:19:26 +0000 http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/?p=372#comment-57 Hi Mathew, thanks for the compliments! I'm glad to hear you're using a blend of on and offline techniques. The barcode scanning has been done because we found a surprising number of people were entering their data for open sorts into OptimalSort by sitting down and recreating the participant's own sort themselves using the participant sorting interface. So we thought about what the most efficient way of entering result data from a paper based sort would be, and this is what we did. Have you tried using OptimalSort for an open sort in the past year or so? There are already a number of good options for open sort analysis and some of it may be new to you. Thanks for the note about the adjacency matrix though, I will definitely look into that. As for closed sorts, if your use case is validating some top level content categories I would suggest using Treejack for this purpose instead. We consider open card sorting to be useful in defining an IA, and tree testing for validating or refining an IA. Hi Mathew, thanks for the compliments! I’m glad to hear you’re using a blend of on and offline techniques.
The barcode scanning has been done because we found a surprising number of people were entering their data for open sorts into OptimalSort by sitting down and recreating the participant’s own sort themselves using the participant sorting interface. So we thought about what the most efficient way of entering result data from a paper based sort would be, and this is what we did.
Have you tried using OptimalSort for an open sort in the past year or so? There are already a number of good options for open sort analysis and some of it may be new to you. Thanks for the note about the adjacency matrix though, I will definitely look into that.
As for closed sorts, if your use case is validating some top level content categories I would suggest using Treejack for this purpose instead. We consider open card sorting to be useful in defining an IA, and tree testing for validating or refining an IA.

]]> Comment on Online or offline card sorting? by Mathew Sanders http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/moderated-card-sorting-with-optimalsort/#comment-56 Mathew Sanders Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:48:37 +0000 http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/?p=372#comment-56 I agree - online and offline compliment each other enormously. Personally I prefer conducting open sorts in person, and closed sorts online (with a larger audience). The bar code scanning is a cool idea, but when sorting in-person I find the the number of partipants is often low (10-20) and so entering data isn't the bottleneck. I love your product but I wish that there were some more analysis options for open sorts. A few years ago I wrote a small script that took results and turned them into an associated adjacency matrix (which are normally associated with graphs, although you could think of card sorting results as a graph dataset!) when the matrix is reordered (so that similar rows and columns are next to each other) it's a great visualization where their are overlaps in people's mental models of content. Keep up the great work :) I agree – online and offline compliment each other enormously. Personally I prefer conducting open sorts in person, and closed sorts online (with a larger audience).

The bar code scanning is a cool idea, but when sorting in-person I find the the number of partipants is often low (10-20) and so entering data isn’t the bottleneck.

I love your product but I wish that there were some more analysis options for open sorts. A few years ago I wrote a small script that took results and turned them into an associated adjacency matrix (which are normally associated with graphs, although you could think of card sorting results as a graph dataset!) when the matrix is reordered (so that similar rows and columns are next to each other) it’s a great visualization where their are overlaps in people’s mental models of content.

Keep up the great work :)

]]> Comment on Webinar: Getting Started with Tree Testing by Sarah Boyd http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/webinar-getting-started-with-tree-testing/#comment-22 Sarah Boyd Wed, 12 Oct 2011 21:39:30 +0000 http://blog.optimalworkshop.com/?p=304#comment-22 Just want to say I love TreeJack. Its just what I was looking for. Let me know if you want someone to support your product in Sydney. Just want to say I love TreeJack. Its just what I was looking for. Let me know if you want someone to support your product in Sydney.

]]> Comment on Why card sorting loves tree testing by Evan http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/why-card-sorting-loves-tree-testing/#comment-20 Evan Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:37:50 +0000 http://blog.optimalworkshop.com/?p=298#comment-20 Hi Erin, From a card labeling perspective, your article is bang-on. Hopefully we will have some more content coming soon that describes card sorting recommendations at a higher level: a sort of "how to approach and execute a card sorting project". Thanks for your comment! Hi Erin,

From a card labeling perspective, your article is bang-on. Hopefully we will have some more content coming soon that describes card sorting recommendations at a higher level: a sort of “how to approach and execute a card sorting project”.

Thanks for your comment!

]]> Comment on Why card sorting loves tree testing by Erin http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/why-card-sorting-loves-tree-testing/#comment-19 Erin Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:03:34 +0000 http://blog.optimalworkshop.com/?p=298#comment-19 When clients discuss their objectives and say things like “We don’t know what should go where on our website,” User Centric, Inc. suggests card sorting as a possible strategy to organize content. We have scoured the Internet for “card sorting labels do’s & don’ts” and “best practices for card sorting descriptions” with only limited success. There are plenty of overall guidelines available, but we feel it would be better if we could provide a reference in conjunction with our personal feedback. What advice have you given a company looking to use card sorting research to redesign a Website? http://www.usercentric.com/blogs/uxnuggets/2011/02/17/information-architecture-how-play-your-cards-right When clients discuss their objectives and say things like “We don’t know what should go where on our website,” User Centric, Inc. suggests card sorting as a possible strategy to organize content.

We have scoured the Internet for “card sorting labels do’s & don’ts” and “best practices for card sorting descriptions” with only limited success. There are plenty of overall guidelines available, but we feel it would be better if we could provide a reference in conjunction with our personal feedback.

What advice have you given a company looking to use card sorting research to redesign a Website?

http://www.usercentric.com/blogs/uxnuggets/2011/02/17/information-architecture-how-play-your-cards-right

]]> Comment on A simple poke in the ribs by Sam http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/a-simple-poke-in-the-ribs/#comment-16 Sam Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:59:35 +0000 http://blog.optimalworkshop.com/?p=258#comment-16 That's brilliant. Can you write a script that will actually do your timesheets for you every 30 minutes as well? That’s brilliant. Can you write a script that will actually do your timesheets for you every 30 minutes as well?

]]> Comment on Webinar: Advanced Tree Testing by Webinar: Getting Started with Tree Testing « Optimal Workshop http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/webinar-advanced-tree-testing/#comment-23 Webinar: Getting Started with Tree Testing « Optimal Workshop Thu, 03 Feb 2011 04:19:30 +0000 http://blog.optimalworkshop.com/?p=317#comment-23 [...] Part 2 will be ready in a couple of days is now available! [...] [...] Part 2 will be ready in a couple of days is now available! [...]

]]> Comment on Webinar: Getting Started with Tree Testing by Webinar: Advanced Tree Testing « Optimal Workshop http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/webinar-getting-started-with-tree-testing/#comment-21 Webinar: Advanced Tree Testing « Optimal Workshop Thu, 03 Feb 2011 04:16:17 +0000 http://blog.optimalworkshop.com/?p=304#comment-21 [...] we posted a Getting Started with Tree Testing webinar and today we have part 2: Advanced Tree Testing. [...] [...] we posted a Getting Started with Tree Testing webinar and today we have part 2: Advanced Tree Testing. [...]

]]> Comment on Why card sorting loves tree testing by Tweets that mention Why card sorting loves tree testing « Optimal Workshop -- Topsy.com http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/why-card-sorting-loves-tree-testing/#comment-18 Tweets that mention Why card sorting loves tree testing « Optimal Workshop -- Topsy.com Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:06:51 +0000 http://blog.optimalworkshop.com/?p=298#comment-18 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Optimal Workshop and jpond, Follow The UX Leader. Follow The UX Leader said: "Why card sorting loves tree testing" http://tinyurl.com/4nhxsu2 (via @optimalworkshop) [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Optimal Workshop and jpond, Follow The UX Leader. Follow The UX Leader said: "Why card sorting loves tree testing" http://tinyurl.com/4nhxsu2 (via @optimalworkshop) [...]

]]> Comment on Userfly – how much can you learn from a silent movie? by Ole Gregersen http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/userfly-how-much-can-you-learn-from-a-silent-movie/#comment-7 Ole Gregersen Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:16:07 +0000 http://www.optimalworkshop.com/blog/?p=95#comment-7 I agree. I have several hundred recordings and most of them are useless. Then once in a while something interesting shows up, but nothing I could imagine myself. REsult: I don't really look anymore. And: The tool is quite "young" it really needs some more work (as of october 2010). If you have 100s of movies the tools for sorting, labelling, deletiong and such are cra*p. Which makes it very tedious (however that is spelled). I'm not convinced, my time seems used more valuable in other online tools. /Ole Gregersen Usability specialist, FDM travel Denmark I agree. I have several hundred recordings and most of them are useless. Then once in a while something interesting shows up, but nothing I could imagine myself. REsult: I don’t really look anymore.

And: The tool is quite “young” it really needs some more work (as of october 2010). If you have 100s of movies the tools for sorting, labelling, deletiong and such are cra*p. Which makes it very tedious (however that is spelled).

I’m not convinced, my time seems used more valuable in other online tools.

/Ole Gregersen
Usability specialist, FDM travel
Denmark

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