[DG: Teaching & Learning] [DG: User Experience] User Goals

[Clay Fenlason]

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 1:15 PM, Luke Fernandez <luke.fernandez at gmail.com> wrote:
>   I guess
> the question is whether there is a point where we should take the
> technological needs which our faculty articulate at face value.

My experience is that this is most often counterproductive. I think
this is why UCD starts with user *research* as opposed to simply
asking the users what they want. The important considerations are very
often the ones we are not conscious of, let alone those we're able to
articulate well, not to mention articulate a solution that will also
work for other people and fit well with other technical solutions in
the same space, and so forth. It takes talent to synthesize sets of
needs and come up with good answers, and that talent is not aided by
leaping into implementation details too quickly.

My underlying aim is to see us build something helpful and useful, not
do a product comparison (and maybe that's why you are coming at this
from a different angle). We've got designers ready to do work, and
they're the ones with the sort of talent I indicated above. We need to
help them cut through to what's essential, not get distracted by
incidental detail.

I think we're all familiar with conversations where someone confronts
us with their issue, we start to raise possibilities or workarounds
and press on details of what they're asking for, until they finally
throw up their hands and say, "Look, I just want something that will
<insert simple thing here> and not be a PITA, and if you can give me
that I'll be happy." When they get to the point of putting it that
way, then I think we're getting somewhere.

~Clay