Draft 'Ease of Operation' Standard Available for Review

Ever wished for a sign on VCRs that said 'Usable'? If the details of testing can be worked out, we may now be getting it. Comments and feedback are being sought on a new standard that should put usability information on household products at the point of sale.

Nigel Bevan of Serco has been editor in the development of a proposed standard for consumer product usability: "ISO 20282 Ease of operation of everyday products". Draft copies are now available for technical review.

ISO 20282-1 explains how to identify the aspects of the context of use that should be taken into account in the design and evaluation of everyday products and describes the characteristics that give rise to variance within the intended user population.

ISO 20282-2 specifies a test method for measuring the extent to which an everyday product is effective-to-operate, efficient-to-operate and satisfying to operate. An everyday product conforms to this part of ISO 20282 if the estimated effectiveness of operation for the population represented by the sample is greater than or equal to 80%.

The standard is being developed to overcome the tendency for consumers to choose products by assessing features, not functions, when they buy household goods. People don't know how something will work - or if they can use it - at the point of sale, says Bevan.

'This is going to raise the profile of usability on products,' he says, 'but developing it is difficult for a lot of reasons.'

At the moment the means of awarding the standard is up for discussion. A pass requires that key functions can be used by 80% of potential users - but how do you test this? Ideally a company will not have to test too many people, but will two labs come up with the same results if small groups are tested?

The drafts are ISO copyright, but now available to anyone who would like to review them and make technical comments. Please contact Bevan ( nigel@usability.serco.com ) if you would like to review the standard. You are also invited to try applying the test method.

Once the procedures and wording are agreed, the results will become a technical specification for three years, during which there will be in-the-field review. If this works, then the full standard accreditation will follow.

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