The agony of slow recruiting and the thrill of real customer feedback

This morning we started the testing portion of a usability study at work. I reserved a conference room, I popped popcorn, and I invited the whole executive team to come watch our vendor remotely interview users as they use our system. And there was nothing to watch. The vendor was on Pacific time, there were some setup issues, and the recruiting was slow, so the first truly observable session didn't happen until 4:45. I basicaly paced around the room all day and IM'd the moderator of the study to get updates. All day. I had to explain to the CEO why there wasn't anything to see. And to the COO. And to the VP of HR. And to a bunch of my colleagues. Not a fun day.

And then, when all hope seemed lost - a live recruit! A real user. Using OUR system. Being interviewed by a usability expert. Giving valuable feedback on her experience with the system and the way she understands and uses it. So worth the wait. It's such a great feeling to get concrete customer input. And even more fun when someone else is collecting it and I can kick back w/ my popcorn and watch. We've got eight more to do this week - I can't wait.