User Testing Planning
NRCS will be a part of the councils user testing group
NRCS is identifying users now (approx 120 so far)
All the councils + NRCS together for testing each tool
First test will be learning the process, they should be great by the time we get to VegSpec
NRCS facilitators may go out and find farmers, or they may have other NRCS people test the tool
NRCS people will be both facilitators and testing the tool
Chris note: two facilitators, one for NRCS, one for farmers
Anticipated minimum workload is 10 hours per month
Councils
Council project manager identifies 2-3 facilitators (council members, farmers, university agent, seed rep, etc)
Each facilitator will find 3-4 farmers to test the tool
Anticipated minimum workload is 10 hours per month
No incentives will be provided
Priorities
Highest priority → seeding rate calculator
Next highest → economics
Then VegSpec in stages based on readiness
Role of the game theory liaison from PSA (@Elizabeth Seyler)
Schedules trainings between game theory and trainers
Makes sure benchmarks are filled out
Communicates with developers (patch notes, current issues)
Communicates back to all 4 councils about the status of the testing and release schedule of the tools
Keeps track of game theory and their next steps, timelines, etc
Questions as a group
Are we doing testing sessions per council or all together?
Will users choose a tool to test or do them in a sequence? → tests will be sequenced
Will NRCS identify a list of facilitators? → yes
Who will be the NRCS point of contact for user testing? → Karl Anderson
Council facilitators (1-3 per council)
MCCC
Anna Morrow, Purdue Univ, annamorrow@purdue.edu
WCCC
Clair Akin, Univ of California Extension, cmakin@ucanr.edu
NECCC
Victoria Ackroyd, Univ of Maryland, vackroyd@umd.edu
SCCC
Victoria Ackroyd, Univ of Maryland, vackroyd@umd.edu