Comments on: A Rebuttal to Technology First Needs Last

By: Samuel H. Kenyon

Samuel H. Kenyon — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:42:08 +0000

Hey, I mentioned your rebuttal in my article (Why You Should Care About (Post)Human Factors).

By: zakiwarfel

zakiwarfel — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:11:54 +0000

Ethnographic studies is just one form of design research. Look again at the definitions supplied the the org behind design research, which essentially define it as research into and applied during the design phase of a product or service. That’s the definition I’m using. Design research could be ethnographic-based studies, surveys, usability testing of an existing product… it’s any form of research used to inform the design of a product.

On the note of innovations and my first-hand experience. Nearly a decade ago I conducted some ethnographic based field research that lead to a number of innovations in iTV and distributed home networks. The company I was consulting with at the time, Ucentric Systems (now owned by Motorola) designed and developed a distributed home network that allowed you to push video to any screen in the house (computer or TV) and sound to any speaker in the house (computer, TV, stereo). Think of it as Slingbox meets the Airport Express. It was way ahead of it’s time and never got past the demo stage. Not because it was ahead of it’s time, but because the head of engineering could never focus enough to ship the thing (same fate as Duke Nukem Forever). A number of the innovations like VoIP that we designed into that product are widespread today (and a number still have yet to see the light of day).

I’ve used design research for a large grocery chain to provide a number of innovative ways to do things like auto-populate shopping lists (the implementation has yet to see the light of day, because the company we designed it for is slow to execute). Another example is a product we’re redesigning right now for the IT/Help Desk field. We’re pushing the design of this application into an entirely new direction that will put the IT/Help Desk field on its head.

One big lesson I’ve learned through this: the first two examples never saw the light of day and I put partial blame on the fact that I wasn’t deeply involved with the development and implementation, but rather just the design. This last example, the one we’re working on right now at Messagefirst, we’re deeply involved in the execution of the design and it will see the light of day in the next 12 months. It’s going to change the field of IT/Help Desk applications. It’s going to do to the IT/Help Desk field what the iPhone did to the mobile market and put the other vendors on their heals struggling to play catchup.

By: Kevin Cannon

Kevin Cannon — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:48:45 +0000

I think you’re redefining the term ‘design research’ from what Don Norman is calling it, and I think that’s a little unfair. If you replace ‘design research’ with ‘ethnographic studies’ then his stance makes a lot more sense, and indeed you agree with him in some of your points above.

Does research lead to innovation, of course, but research is such a broad term that it’s almost meaningless.

What I would like to know is regarding your final point. You said you’ve seen first hand how design research has led to revolutionary innovations. I’d love to hear more about those, and the role design research/ethnography played.

By: An update on “Technology First;” new (free) book from Godin « Design and Innovation Daily

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:12:55 +0000

[...] be. If you found the original article interesting, then Nicolas Nova’s discussion as well as Todd Zaki Warfel’s rebuttal will give you something to think about (also read the comments on the second [...]

By: Fritz Desir

Fritz Desir — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:28:44 +0000

Thanks Philip (Hodgson) for writing what I was thinking.

Don’s article starts with what I can only call a supposition that in my mind doesn’t hold water which sort of negates the rest of his thinking. It reminds me of how an if–then statement works, if the beginning is true then proceed, but if the beginning statement is false it negates the rest, which I realize doesn’t always directly translate to prose (versus programming), but it does for the most part here.

On a separate note what Don speaks to does touch on a bigger issue I’ve been having with the term User Experience Design—it tends to give a connotation (rightly or wrongly) that that’s where the focus lies in creating effective (design) solutions, which oftentimes cannot be further from the truth.

Kudos Todd for taking on the big guy. Very well rebutted.