What is heuristic evaluation?

Heuristic evaluation is a usability inspection method that is often used as a discount usability engineering tool. Heuristic evaluation involves having a product examined independently by multiple evaluators who understand the product's goals and have good knowledge of established usability guidelines. These evaluators develop a list of items that they must address, creating a structured format for the evaluation. Their reports typically turn up some major and minor usability flaws, without ranking them by importance. The advantage of heuristic evaluation is that it is relatively inexpensive and logistically uncomplicated.

What are the limitations of heuristic evaluation?

Heuristic evaluation provides structured expert opinion, not empirical observations of user behavior. The evaluators are, almost by definition, not representative users of the product. While heuristic evaluation is much better than no usability component at all in the development process, the results of heuristic evaluation should not be used to prove a critical concept or to learn about differences among groups of users. Heuristic evaluation is a good way to identify some problems, but not a good way to prove the absence of problems, prioritize existing problems, or determine the solutions to problems.