[IxDA Discuss] Rationale for *not* using UCD

[Phillip Hunter]

>"There is no correlation between effort/resources spent on UCD/UED and the
usability of the results."

>"...there may be other things that produce improvement and that UCD may be
placebic."

This follow-up is a strong statement.  It further implies to me that most
design research and some design tasks are always a waste of time.  I
certainly have seen some research and tasks that are.  And I have certainly
seen them done by people that turn the research and tasks into wastes of
time, but are you saying that some or most of them are? 

Or, by analogizing with the stone soup story, are you saying you see a
catalytic link between design methods and the subsequent actions of the
teams involved that in turn lead to a better result?  If so, why point to
the catalyst as having no correlation to the result?

But if the former is your point, and we are not blind squirrels, then what
tasks do reliably, correlatably, make a difference? 

I apologize for dragging this out, but as someone who passionately believes
that the right design process performed by the right people in the right way
makes a difference that can and needs to be measured, I want to understand
what seems to be a different view.

ph