First Fridays Product Testing Program

First Fridays Product Testing Program (a.k.a. GSA First Fridays) is a usability testing and education program that focuses exclusively on federal government websites. We've tested more than 37 federal sites to date, including IRS, Census, USAJOBS, and the Department of Transportation.

Schedule of Upcoming First Fridays Tests

How First Fridays Works

Types of Tests

How You Can Join In

Learn How to Facilitate Tests

First Fridays Toolkit

Schedule of Upcoming First Fridays Tests

Date/Time: Wednesday, September 19, 2012, from 8:30 AM–1:30 PM ET

Contact: First Fridays to volunteer as a test participant or observer

How First Fridays Works

First Fridays Product Testing Program is a twice-monthly demonstration project aimed at teaching agency staff how to find and fix usability problems on government websites and applications. We test on the first Friday and third Wednesday of every month.

During a four-hour session, GSA asks three recruited participants to perform 35 minutes of tasks on the test website. Site stakeholders observe the participants doing the tasks from another room. After the test, the observers debrief over lunch and identify the three most serious problems and quick-fix solutions to be completed within 30 days. We send site stakeholders a short report and test recordings, and we follow up with them 2-3 weeks after the test. Agency employees may sign up for facilitator training.

First Fridays is based on "discount" usability testing supported by industry leaders, including Steve Krug in his latest book, Rocket Surgery Made Easy.

Schedule of First Friday Product Testing

Types of Tests

First Fridays provides the following kinds of usability testing services:

Formal Tests- Day-long tests of a live or staged website, which include recruiting three test participants, creating tasks for them to accomplish. Observers will be in another room monitoring the test and taking notes.
Hallway Tests- Also known as "Quick Tests," these involve creating paper prototypes or printouts of a web page or pages, and getting feedback from a large group of people in a public space, usually at random.

How You Can Join In

To offer your site, or to volunteer as a test participant or observer, contact First Fridays .
After you’ve had an opportunity to observe a First Fridays Product test, come learn how to facilitate your own tests. We’re offering this unique training opportunity for you to learn how to offer this simple production testing at your agency. The Facilitator-in-Training process takes about 3 months and includes four sessions of increasing responsibility in facilitating.

Learn How to Facilitate Tests

After you’ve had an opportunity to observe a First Fridays Product test, come learn how to facilitate your own tests. We’re offering this unique training opportunity for you to learn how to offer this simple production testing at your agency. The Facilitator-in-Training process takes about 3 months and includes four sessions of increasing responsibility in facilitating.

Format: Four sessions of facilitator training
Date: The first Friday of every month and the third Wednesday of every month
Time: Each session lasts from 8:00 am-1:30 pm (including time spent on pre-facilitation preparation)
Cost: Free
Prerequisite: Attend a First Fridays Test and participate in observation and debriefing

The Training Process:

Watch in test room; be active observer during debrief; role-play facilitator
Listen in on planning calls; learn to set up equipment; watch in test room; conduct 3rd participant test; be active observer during debrief
Set up equipment; conduct 2nd or 3rd tests; be active observer during debrief
Set up equipment; conduct all participant tests; manage debriefing; write Final Report
Listen in on planning and post-test calls for their tests; join in monthly FF community calls

Contact First Fridays to sign up for this training