Use Experience bugs/issues: How do you convince stakeholders who are always cutting corners?

šŸ™‹ Questions
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1

The one thing Iā€™ve always struggled with is stakeholders who cut corners with phrases like:

  • ā€œLets take out this and that use case because we donā€™t have timeā€
  • ā€œBut if we do this small change weā€™ll have to rework the entire thing and that will cost us timeā€
  • ā€œNo this solution is too much effort, the customer only wanted 1 buttonā€

Being a tester its not easy to ignore shortcomings and inconsistencies in a software that seem pretty straightforward and could have consequences towards the end user. I have faced environments where standard practices for good user experiences have been shot down with the most lamest excuses just to save time. You might argue that in some cases time really does matters a lot because there might be too less of it, but think about the following scenario:

  • Youā€™ve got a push notification, you tap on it, the app opens and then nothing happens. You suggest that the app should navigate the user to the correct module if not the correct screen containing the details of the entity.
    • Now imagine your stakeholder wanting to not do the complete job and just leave the user clueless on a random screen. Doesnā€™t make sense does it?

Iā€™d love to hear how you guys overcome these issues, how do you convince them to do the right thing?

2

I try to create a use case in the defect report. In the organizations I have been in we always used ā€œPriority/Severityā€ to describe the urgency and effect of the defect. I will set those to the higher values I think they should be at and then justify it with why the defect is important and how it will affect the user/application/company based on its frequency and outcome.

So using a more obvious example:
" I set the priority and severity to a 1 and 2. The userā€™s password is incorrect but the application wont let them correct it unless the application is restarted/page is refreshed. There is a workaround for this scenario (refreshing) but thats really awkward and doesnt present the application in a professional light. fat-fingered passwords are extremely common"

Basically give them a reason to agree that it needs fixing.

But also - sometimes its not a hill worth dying on. let it go. and when it suddenly becomes a priority, you might gently remind them that the defect was filed some time agoā€¦ In fact when I end up the sole voice in favor of the fix I will acquiesce saying ā€œOk. Alright. But I will keep my ā€˜I told you soā€™ chambered for when this comes up againā€ and it sometimes does. Either way, you cant let it get to you. Dont marry a defect.