On designing for people
People’s tolerance for poor design is dropping as they get savvier with technology and digital products and services. In the past, companies that started their journey on digital and provided an average experience had the first-mover advantage and could get their customer hooked. But with the speed of digital innovation and smaller, more nimble disruptors entering the market with cheaper, more delightful products, those larger companies risk falling by the wayside if they ignore user experience.
People get scared that design slows everything down, but you can do it in a lean fashion. Sometimes at a product or feature level, you can do it in a sprint. Often, getting access to the end-users is what slows things down. Having a pool of customers who are open to giving feedback, being part of testing programmes, and anything else that squads can have access to (including analytics, insights and data from customer support teams) will move it along quicker.
My wife’s an architect, and I’m constantly inspired by how they solve problems. You’ve got a physical space. You’ve got to understand your customer and how they live and how their family will grow. You’ve got materials and standards and guidelines and regulations to meet. It’s not dissimilar to designing for financial services.