Putting Users at the Centre
This week, I learned that I am not as great a listener as I thought. I participated in a problem-solving exercise using the human-centered design process which required that I listen to another person’s problem and develop a solution that would meet their needs.
Our engagement (and thus my understanding of the problem) was limited because I posed questions that were aimed at uncovering what I wanted to know. Consequently, I made assumptions about what i didn’t know to frame the problem and developed a solution that I thought would address their needs.
This exercise helped me recognize the various contextual circumstances that would ultimately impact an interaction between individuals — interactions that require parties to share personal thoughts and stories about a problem they’re facing. Understanding another person’s (or community’s) problem and developing a user-centered solution is a time-consuming and intensive process and there are often a number of constraints that limit the effectiveness of this process. Factors such as time, environment, and trust were some of the constraints that I believe strongly impacted what my partner was willing to share with me.
In all honesty, I struggled to accept why my solution was not well-received, but this points to the fact that we tend have a vested interest in the solutions we develop for others. But after some reflection, I understand that no matter how well I tried to listen, no solution I proposed would have been as valuable as one we could have created together.
