First of all let’s get this straight – UI is not equal to UX. User Experience or often shortened UX encompasses UI and a lot more other things.

UX, or user experience, refers to the overall experience a user has when interacting with a product, system, or service. It encompasses all aspects of the user’s interaction, including the design, usability, accessibility, and functionality of the product.

In essence, UX is about creating products that are easy and pleasant to use, meet the user’s needs, and solve their problems. The goal of UX design is to ensure that the user’s experience is as positive and efficient as possible, by considering their needs, preferences, and behaviours.UX professionals work to understand the user’s context, motivations, and goals, and use this information to design products that meet their needs and exceed their expectations.

But why the UX Research Though?

Good point. But what is UX Research anyways?

UX research is the process of gathering and analysing data and insights about users and their behaviours, needs, and preferences, in order to inform the design and development of products and services that meet their needs.

The primary goal of UX research is to gain a deep understanding of the user’s needs and experiences when interacting with a product or service. This involves a range of research methods, including surveys, interviews, usability testing, and behavioral analysis, among others. By gathering data and insights about the user’s needs and preferences, UX researchers can identify pain points and opportunities for improvement, and use this information to inform the design and development of the product.

But why the QA’s?

This is another great question. Often I’ve seen teams, have this culture where the UX Research team works very differently, in silos , against a very collaborative teams. Many teams ( and unfortunately most teams), often do not understand or emphasise the importance of UX collaborating with the QA folks in the team.

And the feelings become mutual. QA’s do not realise what is the work that the UX Researchers or the UX Solutions Designer actually does. For most of the QA’s that I’ve had the privilege of talking to in my journey, regard a UX person as the “one who gives the design and wireframes” and nothing more. We need to understand that a user design is not only an amalgamation of some wireframes or some UI designs like Invision or Figma, but a culmination of a thought process, an outcome of a research topic that the UX team might be doing behind the scenes.

So that is why I propose that the QA’s should get as much involved in this UX Research process, as they can. Why? Let’s look at some pointers –

Perspective

QA can provide a unique perspective on user behavior and needs. Through their work testing and analysing software products, QA professionals have a deep understanding of how users interact with technology and can provide valuable insights to UX researchers. A good QA is the one who can put on both the hats – as a user and as a development team member. And, the former can come into help when trying to get unique user perspective regarding a particular solution or a product.

Environment Set up

QA can help ensure that user testing is conducted in a realistic environment. QA professionals can help set up and test the software product in a real-world scenario, ensuring that user testing is conducted in an environment that accurately reflects how users will use the product.

User Training

QA can help identify areas where user training may be necessary. As QA professionals, folks are generally aware of the grey areas that can be troublesome for new users or existing users to navigate. So they can help identify areas where users may require additional training or support to use the product effectively.

Consistency

QA can help ensure that the software product is consistent across different platforms and devices. By participating in UX research and strategy, QA professionals can help identify any platform or device-specific issues that may affect the user experience. This is one of the added bonus of cross-platform testing that it enables QA’s to gauge and know about the issues that may come accross platforms. So QA’s can act as a bridge between the product and UX team to cross that bridge.

UI Issues

QA can help identify user interface (UI) issues that may affect the user experience.If we follow a shift left approach, then as QA, we can potentially detect any incoming UI issues/red flags that may impact an end user experience. Through their experience testing software products, QA professionals can identify UI issues that may cause confusion or frustration for users.

Compatibility

QA can help ensure that the software product is compatible with different browsers and operating systems.This is another bonus of doing cross platform testing. As QA’s, we can potentially red flag or detect and inform about any impending or existing issues regarding platform-product compatibility. As such, QA professionals can help identify any compatibility issues that may affect the user experience.

Maintenance

Once a product is released to the end users, it is very important to provide a seamless maintenance experience to the end users. QA can help ensure that the software product is easy to maintain and update. When participating in UX research and strategy, QA professionals can help identify any areas where the product may be difficult or costly to maintain or update. And then we can problem solve during design phase on mitigating that or to make it more user friendly.

Needs of User Personas

QA can help ensure that the software product meets the needs of different user personas. By participating in UX research and strategy, QA professionals can help identify the needs and preferences of different user personas, ensuring that the product meets their unique requirements.

Ease of Use

QA can help ensure that the software product is intuitive and easy to use. By participating in UX research and strategy, QA professionals can help identify any areas where the product may be confusing or difficult to use, ensuring a better user experience.

Let’s take an example of accessibility testing. It is one of the core areas where the QA team can sit with the UX team to understand the needs of the accessibility and can suggest what changes or what impact it may have on the product.

Aiding Quality Delivery

In the end, even if you do all those rounds of UX research, if your product is buggy, then it would be a bad UX for the end user. A QA can help ensure that the software product is tested thoroughly and meets quality standards. Include the UX research findings in your test strategy and take notes from what we have learnt from users through the research – apart from your technical details, these details from the users will help decide how to strategise around testing the functionality.

QA’s involvement in UX research and strategy can bring many benefits, including providing unique user insights, ensuring realistic testing environments, identifying compatibility and UI issues, and ensuring thorough testing and maintenance of the software product. If you or your team are already doing this, I would like to know what benefits do you think this brings to the table. If not, it’s high time you start doing that. It will surely help you reap dividends in the product development timeline.