User Centered Design is Dead… Long Live User Centered Design!
Jared Spool, one of the highest profile and most-respected professionals in the usability industry dropped the bomb today: arguing that User Centered Design (UCD) has never worked and that perhaps it’s time to retire the tired notion. (But before you squelch your next usability project… read on.)
The Celebrity Death Match
Spool kicked off the keynote speech at the IA Summit with a poignant example:
37signals vs. Don Norman
Last month, WIRED Magazine published an article that sparked significant controversy in the web community. The “brash boys” at 37signals (the minds behind of a series of highly popular web-based project management, business and collaboration tools) said “we’re not designing for others… we’re designing for ourselves.”
This irked Don Norman (author of the Design of Future Things and Emotional Design; and respected usability consultant.) He retaliated, stating: “I’ve tried their products and although they have admirable qualities, they have never quite met my needs; Close is not good enough. After reading the article, I understand why the developers are arrogant and completely unsympathetic to the people who use their products.”
Spool pointed out that Norman’s response was, in some ways, a matter of the pot calling the kettle black… but it underscored his point:
“Designing with users in the center is not the only way to do it.”
In a day and age, when Apple Computers is shutting down their formal user research facilities and still creating wildly successful products – perhaps it’s time to open up to some alternative methods.
The Process Continuum
Spool used the diagram below to suggest that all too often, UCD techniques are over-thought and over-processed and, in some extreme cases, veer dangerously towards the realm of dogma. Within some large organizations, process has drowned out rationality and sapped any possible creativity.
I won’t get into the details of Spool’s process scale – the original slidedeck and podcasts will soon be available on his site. However, he did give an example that helps put things in perspective:
If a plumber visited your house to fix a leaky tap, it would be ridiculous to ask about their “methodology” … they just do what they need to do to get the job done. When put in this situation recently, Spool asked his plumber “Is that really the right tool?” and the plumber said “no”. Spool asked “Why don’t you use the right tool?” The answer was “I don’t feel like going out to the truck.” Spool argued that despite the fact that the plumber didn’t have exactly the right tools, he was still able to get the job done. This school of thought veered towards the opposite side of the process continuum – more along the lines of “tricks”.
Spool encouraged the IA Summit audience, folks that live and breath formal UCD methodology, to re-evaluate their processes… stressing that it need not be a complicated endeavor. Spool emphasized that smart companies embrace three core attributes:
VISION: Can everyone on the team describe the experience of using your design five years from now?
FEEDBACK: In the last six weeks, have you spent more than two hours watching someone use your (or a competitor’s) design?
CULTURE: In the last six weeks have you rewarded a team member for creating a major design failure? (Ultimately allowing the design team to learn and grow from mistakes.)
Great advice and a rousing speech; but I can’t help but think that many of Jared’s words to the wise seem to mirror, in many ways, the classical definition of UCD! “Spending two hours watching someone use your design?!” Is this not umm… user-centered?!! It strikes me that Spool came around full circle in his speech.
I definitely agree that user-centered design often ignores the business side of the equation and that this can be extremely detrimental to any company. A user-friendly experience is not the be all and end all – especially in the context of a web-based business. Obviously, it’s important that the design team understand how the organization will make money and achieve growth over time – so that they can build something that will achieve these goals.
It also seems obvious that process for process sake will be expensive and may hinder productivity. I’ve definitely met a few people here at the conference who seem deeply entrenched in their methods – investing millions in the art and science of understanding how their audiences think. But, many companies do not have this luxury – and already get by with Jared’s “tricks” and shortcuts.
From my own perspective, coming from a background in business and marketing, Spool’s advice seems like a “no-brainer;” but perhaps to some, the idea of approaching business, design and development holistically is new. Especially for those that are deeply entrenched in user psychology or library science… tinkering away in the lab or spending hours developing detailed metadata.
Marketing is a dirty word at the IA Summit
It’s been somewhat of a shock to see how few of the sessions here at the conference have been focused on blending common marketing and business strategy knowledge with user experience principles. These are the people who are supposedly shaping the web-based businesses of the future! For example, I’ve met a number of people who didn’t know what “SEO” meant. Yikes! (if you’re reading this and you still don’t know what SEO is, I encourage you to read our SEO whitepaper.)
I applaud Jared Spool for his stance and message – but come away wondering, why has this not been said before? As people who plan websites for a living – why is this not our deepest core philosophy?
Shameless Plug
Perhaps one of the reasons, I’ve come away so suprised by this conference is because non-linear creations already blends techniques from a number of disciplines (and we’ve been doing it for years) – our process leverages marketing techniques, UCD, and analytics to enlighten and validate our work.
We give a great deal of thought as to how the online business will function and profit – in addition to understanding how users will get what they need. There’s a clear negotiation that needs to take place – users will visit a website seeking something to fulfill a particular motivation and in exchange, the business needs to fulfill their own objectives. And, as Jared Spool suggests, we’ll employ any “trick” or “tactic” needed in order provide our clients with an edge over the competition – we find no shame in helping our clients seek out shortcuts.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the non-linear creations process (also known as the non-linear creations Performance Framework Methodology.) It is available online at:
http://www.nonlinear.ca/performance
Stay tuned for more on the IA Summit!
A few of my other posts from the IA Summit: