“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.”

Martha Graham,“Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham by Agnes De Mille.” (1991)

“Can you tell when a voice is not in the crowd, let alone hear it when it is?” In other words, are we assuming we have the right insights because we have the “right” amount, or the “right” people?

Inspired by Pink Floyd, Lost of Words, Division Bell (1994) and NOFX , Idiots are taking over, War on Errorism (2003)

The sentiments above were not necessarily inspired by modern product development, but they can remind us that individuals can make the difference. Have you ever progressed through multiple rounds of user research before one user happens to uncover a fundamental, as yet unseen, flaw? Similarly, have you ever conducted a solid “design process” only to have a teammate join a later-stage meeting and point out a flaw or make a suggestion that compromises many prior conclusions? Did you ever hesitate to speak because you assumed if it wasn’t mentioned it must not be important? Or you felt you were out of your element, you’d look foolish, or would be judged an imposter, only to have that sinking feeling when someone else is thanked for bringing it up, or worse yet, for that thing to come up later as the roadblock no one (else) saw coming?  Has the key detail or insight or solution only been revealed because you decided to work a little harder at it, even when you, let alone anyone else, believed it probably wasn’t worth doing so?  

I am sure these things have happened to you. and just as importantly, we’ve watched them happen to our teammates. People we could have helped, spoken up for, engaged with. And, maybe sometimes we did. If we’re lucky we have experienced being our own best advocate and someone else’s too, so that whatever it is we have to offer, it is offered, and not lost. 

Such individual contributions cannot be planned, but given how often we experience them, they should be expected. No matter what grand product we build, it is always a collection of smaller pieces, contributions, and efforts from dedicated individuals.

Part II provides my take on many of the roles people play during the design process and how we might gain insights considering the perspectives around us. There are many books, resources, and experts that could provide greater depth to any of these roles than I do in these brief vignettes. These essays on the roles do not speak for those people – for that, you should go talk to them! It is simply meant to provide a stake in ground; how I understand their impact on my experience and the process. No matter which role or roles you play, or whether you think my take is right on, partially right, or entirely wrong, the goal is to encourage greater understanding and collaboration, and hopefully, more success because of it. 

User Groups (aka the User)
Use Environments
Domain experts, KOLs
User research
Risk
Usability testing
Design – ID, UI, UX
Marketing, Branding
Sales
Corporate

Regulatory
Engineering
Software developers
Standards, Heuristics
Human factors
Manufacturing
Logistics / distribution
Training
Customer support
PM