[IxDA Discuss] Is user research a band-aid for "the listening deficit"?

[dave malouf]

Robert, if you are an outtie, then I would say, you are the band-aid.
If you are an innie where you mandate is to be the ears of the
organization to end users and customers (not always the same thing)
then no, that is not the case at all. It is a formalization of the
listening process, and further implemented methods for turning
listening and IMHO more importantly observing into real data for
analysis to turn into ideas.

AND!!!! at that even with all the listening in the world, you can
still get it wrong b/c the analysis is so difficult to do, and then
converting the analysis into valuable design is another point of
translation in the matrix.

There are so many parts of the puzzle and to point just at this one
thing seems, well a bit myopic to me. 

But to answer you directly ... If you are a consultant doing UX, you
are a band-aid. If you are an innie, you are the ears of your
organization. In either case, both roles are valuable and shouldn't
be demonized. A band-aid could save your life, ya know?

-- dave




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Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=24074