Listening to users considered harmful
I personally think that user-centered design is a "safe-design" methodology. You practice it because you want your product or solution to be acceptable or just plain viable. But to be truly usable it should also be remarkable. And to get to that level, you need in-depth knowledge of the current and future environments. It is this environmental knowledge, and not just the execution knowledge, that separate the winners from the also-ran. A post by Creating Passionate Users blog has a post citing a comment made by Pat Parelli on his successful Natural Horsemanship venture:
"We changed our entire program because WE knew we could do better. Because WE were still frustrated that people weren't learning quickly enough or progressing through the higher levels as well as we thought they could. People still weren't having the kind of relationship with their horse that we knew they could have, even though our students were delighted with the progress they were making. So we changed it all."
Read Don Norman's essay on Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful for more insights.
Permalink | Monday, September 19, 2005
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