Friday, March 11, 2005
Design meetings and user-centered design
I've spent most of today in town, working with a major organisation on the design of their new IT system. It's a good project because we really are transforming their business processes and improving their approaches to getting new IT - I'm there to assist them and their contractors to develop a decent, user focussed design and successful implementation. There is an interesting dilemma faced by the contractors, however. Our strong emphasis on UCD has meant that they have really taken to heart the fact that users should be integrally involved in the design. But this has had the side-effect of reducing their design inputs, so that they are not presenting decisions or suggestions, but instead saying "anything is possible, ask the users and tell us". It's a difficult balance for a team to get right, and this is the first time I've encountered it as a problem in a real-world situation. It's partly a problem of the experience of the contractors, but it reflects an integral tension in the UCD approach.
I've spent most of today in town, working with a major organisation on the design of their new IT system. It's a good project because we really are transforming their business processes and improving their approaches to getting new IT - I'm there to assist them and their contractors to develop a decent, user focussed design and successful implementation. There is an interesting dilemma faced by the contractors, however. Our strong emphasis on UCD has meant that they have really taken to heart the fact that users should be integrally involved in the design. But this has had the side-effect of reducing their design inputs, so that they are not presenting decisions or suggestions, but instead saying "anything is possible, ask the users and tell us". It's a difficult balance for a team to get right, and this is the first time I've encountered it as a problem in a real-world situation. It's partly a problem of the experience of the contractors, but it reflects an integral tension in the UCD approach.
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(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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