Phase 0: A roadmap for open source teams 🗺️ What is this guide? 🏗️ This guide focuses on informal, DIY, beginner user testing in a process that’s not rigorous but extremely valuable. As a short and practical guide, it helps teams get started, but shouldn’t be used to shift into a career of user research. Who is it for? 🖇️ We wrote this guide with small (2-20 active contributors or maintainers), open source teams in mind.

Phase 3: Conducting a user test 🎛️ The Structure 🧱 A prepared script can help you remember everything and be your guide if your mind goes blank.

1. Introduction: To start, thank the tester for participating. Then briefly introduce yourselves and the testing process. At this point ask if the test has any questions and if they consent to participate. Tell them they can stop the test at any point.

Frequently Asked Questions WIP page :) please come back later when we’ve finished writing this!

Phase 1: Getting ready for user testing 🪞 Planning is a big part of user testing because it sets you up for success. If possible, kick off the process with a team meeting to decide and document the: what, why, how, who, how many, how long, and where of user testing. What 🔎 Deciding what to test depends on your team’s agreed upon roadmap. If a user testing phase is already built-in to your development process, you can skip this step.

Phase 2: Gathering your users for testing 🎣 Once you have your intentions documented, you can translate that information to recruit testers. Make a list of possible outreach channels where your community gathers, such as: your email list, Twitter followers, bug reports, related communities on Reddit or Discord, your website, or your forum. You could also attend relevant conferences or events related to OSS or your tool and perform user testing during the event.