Here's how you can effectively set realistic goals and manage expectations in usability testing.

Depending on the project you are working on define what needs to be tested and make it your main focus in your research. By the time you have designed your product you already know what needs to be tested but leave more room for open ended questions. This will ensure that you avoid your own bias and it is usually where you get unexpected useful answers.

Define Clear Objectives: Establish specific, measurable goals for each test. Communicate Early: Discuss goals and expectations with stakeholders at the start. Set Priorities: Focus on critical usability issues first. Be Transparent: Share potential limitations and constraints of the testing process. Manage Scope: Ensure the scope of testing is realistic and achievable. Regular Updates: Provide frequent progress reports to keep everyone informed. Adjust as Needed: Be flexible and ready to modify goals based on findings.

To delve further, ensuring clear communication about the goals and scope of usability testing fosters alignment among stakeholders, minimizing misunderstandings and ensuring everyone is on the same page. Prioritizing key metrics helps in concentrating efforts on aspects crucial for the project's success, streamlining the testing process. Acknowledging potential limitations proactively allows for contingency planning and adjustment of expectations, ensuring realistic outcomes. Iterating on goals based on ongoing insights and feedback enables a dynamic and responsive approach, maximizing the value derived from usability testing over the project's lifecycle.

It is important to know your users. Users are who you are designing the product for. If you don’t know them/don’t have a perona/s, how do you know what to design? Having user persona/s helps you narrow down you users need and create usable product. Persona should be based on real data, which you can gather by sending out forms, surveys or use the help of data analytics specialists to help you gather required type of data.

Testing your design includes having a set of tasks and follow up questions depending on the project. Make sure to ask open ended questions to leave more room for users to express themselves. Let your users know that there are no right or wrong answers.

While conducting a usability test make sure you take notes on the go. Create an Excel sheet and look for key data that can include: quotes, users’ feelings that they express, how fast user completed a task, their click path. Also before starting a test ask for users’ permission to record, these recording may be useful for you later or another researcher that may join you in the process. Don’t forget that documenting the process is equally important

Success rate is key in usability testing. It helps to measure the percentage of participants who achieve a specific goal or complete a task successfully. It's a clear indicator of how user-friendly and effective your product or service is. I would say you do the following: -Calculation: Divide the number of participants who successfully completed the task by the total number of participants, then multiply by 100. -Analyze success rate alongside other metrics like time-on-task, user satisfaction, and error rates to identify areas for improvement. - Aim for a success rate of 80% or higher, indicating a well-designed product. Low success rates reveal usability issues. We can always iterate and refine.