Xianhang Zhang writes about startups, product design, user-centered design, and digital ecosystems, including the European unicorn gap.
One commenter recommends it for unique perspectives on things people take for granted, citing posts like The Problem with Problems and Slaves of the feed.
Oh, I just noticed that we sparred before around this post: http://000fff.org/getting-to-the-customer-why-everything-you-think-about-user-centred-design-is-wrong/ about the exact same issue (I am Xianhang Zhang). I don't know if we're going to get any more productive the second time around.
Proving usability testing works when creating a product has the same problem with proving something like agile development works. Every project is unique so you never know how things would have turned out if you did things another way.
The best you're going to get is anecdotal evidence that early stage usability testing caused significant pivots around the core concept and assume that these pivots are generally positive.
Much of the customer development stuff Steve Blank talks about fall into this category.
I think you're missing the bigger point. Most people work on problems that they've seen or experienced. For the young, it tends to be dating, social media, or some sort of e-commerce. They chase trends and hype. When you gain experience, you get exposed to an entirely different set of problems—problems with workflow, business processes, and general efficiency. Problems
where you can deliver real value.
This was brilliantly expressed in this blog post [1]. Both the young and the old, stand at a disadvantage. Experienced folks have a better idea about worthy problems, but they're shackled with liabilities and lack of time commitment. Young people have a lot more freedom, but they don't have a good idea about the problems that are worth it.
[1]: http://000fff.org/the-problem-with-problems/
https://www.000fff.org
Because its guaranteed to be unique perspectives about things everyone take for granted and its written for clearing up somE of my own thinking. Especially “The problem with Problems”, “Slaves of the feed - This is not the real-time we’ve been looking for” and “The Ghost Protocol” should be interesting to anyone in the startup tech space.
Hi Thomas,
I remember discussing Ghostnote with you when you were designing mockups back in October last year. Thrilled to see it released.
Original mockup from october: http://000fff.org/uploads/24a818aa6352f1f8d4ad33bf3e90145bb1ec71aa3e.png
Chat on #weekendhacker about the mockup: https://botbot.me/freenode/weekendhacker/2014-10-17/?msg=23682070&page=1
clickable link: https://www.000fff.org