Ahh, "testing". One of my favorite topics. When you're a marketing-type person, you have to have a feel for the right and wrong way to run focus groups and other program/project evaluations. However, I had failed to recognize that there IS a definitive difference between "focus groups" and "usability testing". I confess, I had assumed that they were a different name for the same beast, much like "kitty" and "cat".
Well, apparently I was wrong, wrong, wrong. They're far from being the same animal, and what's more it seems that usability testing is a much simpler animal (perhaps comparable to an amoeba rather than a cat). You don't really seem to need too many participants, much less the degree of expertise required to facilitate a successful focus group. And hey, the next chapter even promises to give the deets on how to accomplish a usability test! Yay!

Ok, that was way too much enthusiasm. We will now return you to your regularly scheduled apathy.