Analyze Usability Findings

Purpose

Help teams structure raw usability observations into a clear, prioritized set of findings and design recommendations that can be handed off to design and engineering.

Skill type

Conceptual skill

Use this skill when

• Usability testing sessions have been completed and observations need to be analyzed
• Raw session notes need to be organized into patterns and themes
• A usability report needs to be produced for stakeholders
• Design teams need prioritized issues to act on

Do not use this skill when

• Sessions haven't been run yet (use run-usability-testing or design-research-study)
• The goal is broad qualitative synthesis from interviews (use synthesize-qualitative-research)

Required inputs

• Session notes, recordings, or observation logs
• Tasks or scenarios used in the study

Optional inputs

• Completion rates or task timing data
• Prior usability findings for comparison
• Severity rating criteria

Upstream context

Works best when:

• Study protocol is known (what tasks were given, what was observed)
• Multiple sessions have been completed (3+ for pattern detection)

Downstream handoff

Output can feed:

• assess-experience-quality (findings feed broader experience quality view)
• manage-design-handoff (prioritized issues go into design brief)
• formulate-experiment-hypothesis (critical issues → test solutions via experiment)

Instructions

1. Collect all session observations in one place.
2. Group observations by task or product area.
3. Identify recurring issues (appeared in 2+ sessions) vs. one-off observations.
4. Classify each issue by severity: critical (blocks task) / major (causes confusion or errors) / minor (annoyance).
5. Write each finding as a clear problem statement with evidence (direct quotes or observations).
6. Generate design recommendations for each finding.
7. Prioritize recommendations by severity and feasibility.

Output

Provide:

• Finding set organized by theme or task area
• Each finding: description, evidence (quotes/observations), severity, affected participants
• Design recommendations per finding
• Priority-ordered action list
• Quick wins (low effort, high impact)
• Open questions for next round of research

Risks / caveats

• Issues seen in only one session may be participant-specific — flag but don't overweight
• Separate findings from recommendations — designers should understand the problem before jumping to solutions
• Don't include every observation — focus on patterns with design implications