Training coworkers to run usability testing sessions

e needed help. With only 2 of us able to run usability testing sessions, and the large time commitment they involved, we were struggling to effectively conduct research to feed back into our product development. Hiring more staff was out of reach - so what could we do? Luckily, we had some awesome coworkers who took to usability testing like flies to honey after going through a simple training program that I developed. Basically, here's what you need to do:

• First, find out who might be interested and who would have a good personality for interacting with clients.  For me, I worked with our QA department. Many of them had prior  Support experience as well, and therefore were very familiar with speaking to clients. You could also see if your Business Analysts have an interest, or someone involved in Client Outreach.

• Start out with a small number of people you feel comfortable with. It can feel daunting to feel like you have a classroom of people, so just pick a few.  
• I put together an internal blog post where I gave a quick & dirty guide on how to run a usability test using examples specific to our company. I borrowed heavily from Don’t Make Me Think, which I definitely recommend you read. Have them read your summary (and the book too if they are super jazzed about it!)
• After they have read your material, you can set up a brief meeting where you can have a conversation about what they’ve read, answer any questions, and get a feel for their availability and interest levels. It’s important that they genuinely are interested in the experiences of users - if they aren’t into it, it will come through during a testing session.
• Have them observe a couple usability sessions and be in charge of taking notes. Let them interject with questions they might think of and explore the boundaries of this type of client interaction. Observe the types of questions they ask, and the way they take notes. Do they notice changes  in tones of voice? Do they pick up on long pauses, or when a client seems a bit lost on the screen?
• For your third usability session, have them lead while you take notes. Observe how they interact with the client and answer questions, or probe for more information. Do they take care in how they phrase things so as to not lead the user? Do the reassure the user that you are testing the product, and not them?
• After that, give your final assessment. Do you think they need more training, or are they ready to run a session without you present? Can they start writing their own tests? If so  - awesome! You now have expanded your testing workforce!  And even better, you have shown more people the value of your role, and the value of client input in the development process.

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