A Hard Lesson To Learn - Data Driven Design - page 5

they obviously had meaning for me, I was finally coming face-to-face with the fact that
their deeper meaning could only be achieved through successful interaction with others.
The only way that could happen would be if people used the things I thought up. I had to
make room for users in my thinking. As I gradually opened my eyes, I began to see the
benefits of this different system.
At AOL, their constant testing turned up flaws I would've missed. Their redesign of
faulty functions resulted in products that worked better in the marketplace. Users didn't
have to wait for a whole new model before their complaints were answered. Many of those
problems were solved before the product reached them. Others emerged in an iterative pro-
cess that brought accelerated feedback, instant analysis and quick solutions. This idea of
beginning with a user's needs startled me. But as I grasped it, I began to think about design
in an entirely new way.
I started to realize that, in many cases, including my own, a designer's needs and skills
are not the same as those of an everyday consumer. We're trained to do this stuff. We look
at products in terms of how they function in a roomful of designers. We think of a new item
in light of what it might do in the rarified atmosphere of the design laboratory. This isn't
the same as using it on a desktop, or in a car, or on devices we carry in our pockets. We
aren't putting the design through the same tests consumers would. Often we aren't even
using it for the same tasks. Users might take a product intended for workplace tasks and
find a more interesting application at a party, or in an elevator, or on a mountaintop. They
find functions we never considered, and they'll often combine a product with other items
or services in ways we couldn't have imagined.
Four years after my first experience of Agile I haven't entirely eliminated Artistic Ego,
nor should I. There's always a place for aesthetics in design. But I've tamed it, and put it
into use within a new, more efficient “ Lean ” paradigm. Agile methodology has altered my
whole approach. Now, I look at new product ideas in terms of the people who will actually
use them. I've incorporated internal feedback during design as a normal part of my pro-
cess. Now, versions of the product go into the lab earlier, and there they are tested against
standards of real usability. My team and I augment this with remote testing of each feature
after launch, as we track usage metrics.
I've also learned to ask a new set of questions. I want to know if the user of my design
is getting the best experience possible. I want to know if a button's placement is confusing,
or if consumers are dreaming up new uses that never even occurred to me. If something's
wrong, I want to know that as early in the design process as possible, so I can set it right.
Concerns about aesthetics remain vital. I want a product to look great and appeal to a user's