Ask, “What Would the User Do?” (YouAre Not the User)
by Giles Colborne
⚡WE ALL TEND TO ASSUME THAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK LIKE US. But they don’t. Psychologists call this the fake consensus bias.
⚡This bias explains why programmers have such a hard time putting themselves in the user’s position. Users don’t think like programmers. To start, they spend much less time using computers. They neither know nor care how a computer works.
⚡The best way to find out how a user thinks is to watch one. Ask a user to complete a task using a similar piece of software to what you’re developing. Make sure the task is a real one: “Calculate your expenses for the last month” is better. Get the user to talk through his or her progress.
⚡You’ll also find that there is a gap between what the users say they want and what they do. We should ask for users’ requirements. It’s why the best way to capture requirements is to watch users. Spending an hour watching users is more informative than spending a day guessing what they want.
⚡Do you agree with this statement? Happy Coding!
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