'In addition to early field studies, in-situ user testing and evaluation are equally critical. The same usability-engineering lead designing military applications went on to describe the critical findings that testing with complex-app users outside of the lab can reveal:

"We do a lot of performance measurements. For example, the multitouch of a button, say, on a touch screen. There's problems when they (soldiers) have to put on protective gear. A responsive or conductive touch screen doesn't work because it doesn't have the stylus in there…The software may perform correctly in an ideal situation, but when we do our user studies, we'll do it outside (of the lab).” '