A Process to Support the Remote Tree Testing Technique for Evaluating the Information Architecture of User Interfaces in Software Projects

Nowadays, due to technological advancement, people are bound to use multiple digital tools and interact with them through a User Interface. For this reason, User Experience (UX) is one of the most important keys to success. UX includes the design and evaluation of an adequate Information Architecture. To design Information Architecture, the best-known technique is Card Sorting. For evaluation, there is the Tree Testing or Reverse Card Sorting technique. This technique can be applied in remote or non-remote ways. We identified three main issues: 1. The remote processes to apply Tree Testing are not standardized; 2. the tools were modeled and built after a process defined by the supplier of those tools, most of which are now discontinued. 3. In many development projects these techniques are left aside, the Information Architecture is assessed using other methods and techniques (i.e. User Testing) in later phases of the project. These result in Information Architecture errors and defects found late or not found at all. Hence, this study is focused on developing and validating a standardized remote Tree Testing process with an emphasis on automation. To meet the objectives, we conducted interviews and literature reviews to find out how Tree Testing is currently carried out and what tools are used to support the technique (AS-IS workflow). Subsequently, we proposed a process that can support the technique, considering the pain points found on the current processes, resulting in a TO-BE workflow. As a result, a proposal of this standardized process was modeled using the notation BPMN, and validated by the expert judgment of specialists in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Finally, it is important to mention that Tree Testing is useful, practical in its remote application, and should be applied in the early stages of software projects; a tool to support the whole process should be implemented. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.