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

[Robert Hoekman, Jr.]

> Often the management tree of the organization where engineering
> (information sink) joins up with customer support (information source) is at
> a senior executive level, sometimes even the CEO. It's not the job of those
> executives to communicate what the two groups are doing.
>

Exactly what I've seen. There may be conversations over drinks between
senior-level managers, but there's not often a path for engineers and
designers to frequently and effectively communicate with support.

For example, for many years, select teams at (believe it or not) Microsoft
> had a bonus for the developers/engineers who kept support minimized for
> their products. In essence, money saved from reduced support costs was put
> into bonuses for the design & development team.
>

Nice. If my previous employers had done this, I'd have been a richer man
while working there. (My horn goes toot.)

-r-