What is a cognitive walk-through?
A cognitive walk-through is a usability inspection method used to identify any issues a user might face while interacting with the product.
When the user goals have been established, but the flows are still in the making, cognitive walk-through assists in finalizing the user flows.
Why use it?
A cognitive walk-through is a great tool to assess how well the software helps the user. In the early design phase of software development, this approach is used to understand better how the end-user will interact with the interface.
How to carry out a cognitive walk-through
Once the user goals of a product have been established, the cognitive walk-through can be executed as follows:
- Define tasks
The tasks the user is expected to carry out while using the product are specified. These are the tasks that the cognitive walk-through will evaluate. - Divide into processes
After deciding on the tasks, divide each task into simple processes. For example, if the task is to sign in, it can be divided into the following processes:
i. Open the browser
ii. Navigate to the website
iii. Click the sign in button
iv. Enter username in the username field
v. Enter the password in the password field
vi. Click the sign in button - Answer the four questions
Once the user goes through the processes, consider these questions and note their answers for each process.
- Collect the answers
The assigned assessors will write the answers to the above questions for each process. If they encounter any issues that the user might’ve faced during the walk-through they’ll report it in a single document, which will then be forwarded for fixing.
Conclusion
A cognitive walk-through is a quick and easy way of evaluating the product interface. It allows one to understand the product's usability from the consumer's perspective, resulting in a user-friendly product.
Match the correct statement. There may be multiple answers for each statement.
Buying a product from the website
A process
Clicking on the checkout button
A task
Selecting a product
Naivigating to product website
