A usability test is only as good as the tasks you ask people to do. A task scenario is a short, realistic situation that gives the participant a reason to use the interface — for example, "You want to meet a friend downtown on Friday night; find a restaurant that takes reservations and book a table for two" — rather than a direct instruction like "click the reservations button." Good scenarios supply just enough context to make behavior natural, avoid giving away the interface vocabulary or the navigation path, and end in a state you can actually observe and score.
This topic covers how to write those scenarios and assemble them into a test script. You will look at what separates a strong scenario from a leading or vague one, how to phrase context and prompts, how to attach measurable success criteria so you can later report completion rates, error counts, and time-on-task, how to pilot a script and revise wording that confuses participants, and how to sequence tasks so that earlier tasks do not teach participants the answers to later ones. The script also includes the non-task parts of the session: the introduction, consent, think-aloud instructions, and transitions.
As you watch, pay attention to three things: the exact wording used in example tasks (what is included, what is deliberately left out), how each speaker defines "done" for a task, and how the script is used as a facilitation tool during the session rather than just a planning document. Notice also how much preparation happens before a participant ever arrives.
These videos were chosen from YouTube on October 3, 2026. Each has captions; the player turns them on. Videos on YouTube can be changed or removed — if one no longer plays, tell your instructor. If a player does not appear, use its Watch on YouTube link.