Start With Why: Even If They Already Said “Faster Horses”
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” — Henry Ford
I stumbled upon this quote one day. Some people state that Henry ford didn’t really say that, and even if he did, there are different opinions for people who think he is right (for it needs innovative people to make a breakthrough) or he is wrong (for we need user feedback and user-centered is essential for our services). In this article, I want to share my opinion about this kinda “controversial” quote.
Henry Ford is right, but in the context of developing products that people would love, it might be easily misinterpreted.
In the spirit of acquiring proper understanding prior to solving any problem, my version of the quote would be: “I ask people what they want, and they say faster horses, then I would ask why do they want faster horses and see how I can help them to reach their goals”
What can we learn from the quote is, we shouldn’t stop at questioning users what they want, but why do they want that. Let’s say that they want faster horses, ask why they want that? They start telling their pain points, and then they tell their goals, motivation. Now, those are the things that you need. After all, you don’t stop at providing answer, you develop solution, and iterate to make it better.
If we talk about the scope of UX, it’s far from only designing what color the button should be and where it should be placed. It’s how we make sure we are giving the best experience possible from our service. It’s about solving a problem faced by our user. It’s about helping them to fulfill their needs and reach their goals by using our service.
The importance of why
Why is “why” important? If we step back and define what’s important and what’s not, it’s back to the same place; the purpose. The question “why” defines what makes us do certain thing, and what is our expected outcome. By asking why to our user, we know more than the outer layer, but also the root cause of their problem. Asking why makes you understand how and what. How will your service help them and what do you need to make it happen. After that, when, which, and other questions will follow, so on to the next iteration and to the next one and to the next one.
Asking why will direct our focus to what matters more. It can affect every aspect of our daily life. For example, when helping friend choosing a new laptop, instead of jumping to what laptop they want, it’s easier to start with finding the purpose: why do they need a new laptop? Will it be used mainly to play game? Get a gaming laptop. Will it be used for college tasks and need to be able to be brought everyday? Get a lightweight notebook. There are many factors that can be prioritized, and the first thing to do is simple: start with why.
Related to the quote from Henry Ford above, doing research on why will bring us to three possibilities; we will gain understanding of our user with their frustrations and motivations, we will gain insights on how might our services be, and lastly we may find that the problem doesn’t exist or different from our initial hypotheses. These three don’t have to be separated, but complement each other. This bring us to the key point: understanding. By asking why, we will gain understanding on user, service, and problem.
Seeing the Bigger Picture
“Being too focused on less necessary stuff is just like worrying about the color of your shoelace but not realizing your sole is broken” — unknown
Detail does matter, but when you are too focused on details without seeing the bigger picture, it’s easy to make mistakes. When I first getting deep into the design world, I often debated many things that now I find out were unnecessary. I debated on the size of pixel size of icon, font size, and others while I assume that I already understand how my app is used. In the end, when I test my design, people get too confused and stop using it.
Lesson I learned is It’s easy to focus on what can be seen, and it’s hard to focus on what is invisible. We can design what user will see, but we can’t design on how will they think and feel when they see it.
Does it meet their expectation? Will it create confusion? Do users understand the purpose of the app? No matter how beautiful your design is, if it doesn’t suit your users’ needs, they will not bother using it. Understanding the “why”s will bring you closer to understand what is the bigger picture to develop the most suitable solution.
Conclusion
There’s much more to gain by starting with why. Just like the tip of iceberg, we will understand our user better if we ask their background and intention. Understanding the whys will help us to design solution that is not focused on what can be seen, but to design something that will help them reaching the goals and fulfill their needs.
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