“Usability testing should not be a stage gate in your design and development process. It should be a tool with which to gather helpful, diagnostic information from your target users. It’s a means of understanding the goodness of a design’s fit to the intended users’ problems.” – Paul J. Sherman

Read more in Paul’s article “Testing Your Own Designs Redux.”

1. Focus on understanding the behavior and performance of people using a design
2. The hygiene factor of usability
3. Findability precedes usability. You can’t use what you can’t find.
4. Peripheral insights often feed a designer’s instincts most
5. Necessary and useful design should be beautiful