Where I got turned off by ‘user-centric’ design is when it got taken over by the self-appointed muses who claimed they only, with their deep knowledge, could discern the needs of the users. ‘Techno-barbarians need not apply!’
My contention was always - the users didn’t know what they wanted, because they were not aware of the possibilities to begin with. They were always asking for ‘faster horses’.
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"...the users didn’t know what they wanted, because they were not aware of the possibilities to begin with."
This is a deep insight Tim. After spending time in the corporate UX world and getting lost in all the jargon and buzzwords, I’ve realized what really matters is just getting the tools into people’s hands. They’ll figure out what they need, what works, and often come up with ideas that would never see.
Yeah, I developed my own 'agile' methodology with four iterative development modes that feedback, feed forward into each other.
1. Possibility
2. Feasibility
3. Scalability
4. Usability
I spend most of my time between 1 and 2.
