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

[Daniel Szuc]

Hi Robert:

"When they later realize this isn't working, for whatever reason,  
they hire outsiders to figure out who their customers really are and  
what they need. Instead of listening to their customers, donors,  
volunteers, employees, fans, and so on in the first place, they pay  
*someone else* to do something they could and should have done  
themselves."

Suggest "some" reasons why companies are getting outside help:

1. They are losing touch with their customers and want to get another  
fresh perspective (what are our customers saying today? Does it match  
with what we thought last year, a few years back? etc)

2. Don't have the resources to run the user research themselves

3. Don't have the understanding of the methods on ways to listen more  
effectively to their customers (beyond "Focus Groups") - so feed them  
with some ideas on how we can help

4. Have an opinion (having listened to their customers) but may be  
too close to it, so want to validate with an external piece of user  
research

5. Believe in it (listening to customers), but need help to sell it  
internally to mgt to have more opportunities ahead to listen more to  
their customers (both with the help of outsiders and empowering them  
to do it internally)

6. Don't want to listen to their customers at all (or only hear what  
they want to will push personal internal agendas). So Yup -  
"...continually push their own agendas and hope their customers will  
simply remain quiet and keep giving them money."

7. Have enough money to burn to release products that do not reflect  
the needs of the customer and this is seen as ok in that company or  
product group (eek!)

8. The business knows their customers so well (they are not able to  
be impartial)(also see point 4)

Others?

"... something they could and should have done themselves." - Yup.  
Advocate of passing the knowledge to clients so they can do this  
themselves; so we can help them, if possible, with other pieces to  
enable us to - "... bring something more powerful to the table" both  
big and small :) Perhaps see something they are not able to see as  
they are too close to their own business.

rgds,

Daniel Szuc
Principal Usability Consultant
www.apogeehk.com
T: +852 2581 2166
F: +852 2833 2961
"Usability in Asia"

The Usability Kit - www.theusabilitykit.com

On 02/01/2008, at 7:30 AM, Robert Hoekman, Jr. wrote:

> I've been reading Allison Fine's wonderful book, Momentum: Igniting  
> Social
> Change in the Connected
> Age<http://www.amazon.com/Momentum-Igniting-Social-Change-Connected/ 
> dp/0787984442/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199227694&sr=8-1>
> .
>
> In one section, Fine talks about "the listening deficit" that  
> cripples most
> organizations, positing that corporations and NPOs alike tend to  
> continually
> push their own agendas and hope their customers will simply remain  
> quiet and
> keep giving them money.
>
> When they later realize this isn't working, for whatever reason,  
> they hire
> outsiders to figure out who their customers really are and what  
> they need.
> Instead of listening to their customers, donors, volunteers,  
> employees,
> fans, and so on in the first place, they pay *someone else* to do  
> something
> they could and should have done themselves.
> After pondering this rant for a moment, I thought about the User  
> Experience
> profession.
>
> Does the user research aspect of your work exist only because  
> companies are
> incapable of listening to and holding conversations with their own  
> customers
> in the first place, or does your reseach provide value beyond what  
> internal
> staff could have learned on their own had they been listening?
>
> Is user research simply a band-aid for the listening deficit, or  
> does it
> bring something more powerful to the table?
>
> -r-
> ________________________________________________________________
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> February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA
> Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/
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