Rethinking Heuristics, Are We Heading the Right Way? A Case Study on Heuristic Evaluation in Action

Three decades into the evolution of Heuristic Evaluation (HE), we must ask: are we still on the right path? This study critiques the current trajectory of HE research, arguing it has drifted from its original framework and lacks a clear understanding of real-world applications. Through a case study involving in-depth interviews and actual observations of UX practitioners in a large-scale organization, we uncover the raw, unvarnished practice of HE. Our findings reveal that practitioners often rely on unstructured, experience-based, single-evaluator approaches, diverging from the structured, multi-evaluator methods advocated in recent literature. Additionally, we highlight the overlooked influence of individual, task-related, and organizational factors on HE practice. HE, despite remaining to be a useful tool for UX practitioners, calls for a change in perspective. We challenge the HCI community to rethink HE - to acknowledge that maybe, we need to pivot our approach.