FOWA Expo London 07
Seats secured. Hope to see you there.
~ Sorry, comments are off ~
Creating features based on a personal preference is wrong
On almost every development team meeting somebody brings a new idea about how to ‘improve’ already adopted feature set.
Naturally, every person involved in the project development has her own opinion about how the things should work on a web site. Most of the time, it’s based on her personal taste and preference. That’s wrong. That is not user-centered design.
You are not creating a feature set for yourself, you are creating it for a thousands of users you’ve never met… and if you are serious about the web site, that’s a millions of users you’ve never met. Always keep in mind: You are not a typical user of a web site you are developing.
First person view, third person view
If you are usually explaining a feature by I would never use this feature…
or If I would like to do something on this page…
(note the I pronoun), it’s a good sign you’re thinking of yourself, not the users.
Creating personas is a good way to start asking What would Janet, the office manager, like to accomplish on this web site?
or How would James, the insurance agent, use this feature?
. This way, you are focusing on users, not yourself.
