Heuristic Evaluations for Product Teams
Brian Cloward
Head of Product Design & Research
Goal-based usability assessments to quickly spot issues in any digital product
Product teams often focus on adding features while usability and performance suffer. Without intentional and regular reviews, usability improvements can be difficult to prioritize. A heuristic evaluation is a fast, cost effective method for identifying usability issues using proven UX principles.
In this hands on course, you will learn a structured approach to conducting a comprehensive usability audit. You will create personas and task scenarios, evaluate products against essential usability factors, and score and document findings to produce clear, actionable recommendations.
Designed for product leaders, UX professionals, and developers, this course provides practical tools to improve product quality and usability. You will learn how to uncover usability issues quickly, strengthen your research toolkit, and communicate insights that influence product decisions.
By the end of the course, you will be able to confidently conduct heuristic evaluations, identify critical usability risks, and deliver compelling reports that help teams improve usability and overall product success.
What you’ll learn
Learn how to conduct goal-based expert usability reviews to quickly spot issues and build a better UX backlog.
Common research methods and when to include a review
Cost-benefit analysis, effort, and planning essentials
Why this structured framework works better than any other
Essentials when selecting a system to evaluate
Discuss fears, attitudes, needs and goals for generating a proto persona
Define your test scenario and task to evaluate your product with
Learn the scoring system with numerous use cases
Effectively document your findings and score them
Learn tips for working as a team or individually
Apply your knowledge of product usability evaluation to all digital products
Ensure usability and performance are part of your product backlog
Build better UX research plans
Tips discussing the findings with your product team
How to customize and iterate upon this framework
Finish this course with a completed heuristic and the knowledge to bring back to your team
Learn directly from Brian
Brian Cloward
Senior UX Product Design Leader and UX Practices Coach
Who this course is for
UX Designers, Researchers, and Product Leaders who are looking to quickly and cost-effectively identify usability issues in their product.
Beginner, intermediate, and advanced UX & research professionals looking to include a heuristic evaluation as part their research toolkit.
Product Teams looking for data points to support usability improvements to balance the product backlog.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Brian Cloward in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
New for 2026!! Access to an Online Usability Reporting Tool
Free access to a usability reporting platform that offers an online version of the usability assessment guide and an report builder so you can easily document assessments and share them with your team, company, or clients.
Maven Guarantee
Your purchase is backed by the Maven Guarantee.
Course syllabus
4 live sessions • 4 lessons
Week 1
Mar
3
Introduction to Heuristic Evaluation Research
The Essential Setup
Mar
5
Part 1 - Conducting a Heuristic Evaluation
Week 2
Mar
10
Part 2 - Conducting a Heuristic Evaluation
Assignment: Complete a Heuristic Evaluation
Mar
12
Heuristic Evaluation Final Review with Q&A
Schedule
Live sessions
1-3 hrs / week
The course has been broken up into 2 sessions a week for 2 weeks totaling about 6 hours.
Tue, Mar 3
4:00 PM—5:30 PM (UTC)
Thu, Mar 5
4:00 PM—5:30 PM (UTC)
Tue, Mar 10
3:00 PM—4:30 PM (UTC)
Thu, Mar 12
3:00 PM—4:30 PM (UTC)
Usability Assessment
1 hr / week
Please make sure you set aside about 1 -2 hour a week to work on your own assessment which may be reviewed during the class with the instructor, depending on number of students in the class.
Testimonials
- Brian's method proved to be practical and aligned well with the current needs of product teams and usability practices. His teaching style was engaging; he actively listened and answered all my questions, adapting activities to better fit my specific needs. I have learned so much from this course!
Manuela Santos
UX Mixed Methods Researcher - Through Brian's coaching I was able to see how I needed to work with our UX team members to arrive at the optimal solution.
Matt Gardner
Senior Product Manager - Brian is an exemplary UX leader, highly skilled in leading and working across functional teams. His example and influence helped me to be a better designer and colleague and I’m deeply grateful for his leadership.
Paul Krause
Sr. Digital Product Designer UI - One of Brian’s most impressive qualities is his dedication to mentorship. He invests time and energy into cultivating talent within and outside his team, providing guidance and support to designers, researchers, and product managers, while empowering them to explore their own creative potential.
Annie Ovalle
UX Research Leader