What are Nielsen's usability heuristics (overview) and how do teams use them?

Jakob Nielsen’s heuristics are evaluation criteria, not a replacement for user research. The classic ten include: (1) visibility of system status, (2) match between system and the real world, (3) user control and freedom, (4) consistency and standards, (5) error prevention, (6) recognition over recall, (7) flexibility and efficiency for experts, (8) aesthetic and minimal design, (9) help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors, and (10) help and documentation. Teams use them in expert reviews, heuristic evaluation sessions, and design checklists. They are a lens: multiple evaluators, independent passes, and severity ratings make the process useful, not a single person saying '6/10' with no action.

1 status  2 real words  3 undo  4 same patterns
5 no slips 6 labels visible 7 shortcuts 8 no noise
9 fix errors 10 docs when needed

Start simple: try this concept in a tiny project before moving to advanced tools.