#userneeds

Have you ever had a design requirement from a client or business that went against UX best practices? How do you identify business goals and user needs in such situations? 

 Many designers still use the phrase – “The customer is always right” and believe pushing back is the answer. No doubt, UX designers should stand for their user objectives. After all, it is a part of their jobs. But, fighting for user needs without showing an understanding of business priorities can put their careers at risk.

 Certainly, a company’s success is ruled by customers’ experience & revenue. That is why a smart product designer must start each work by knowing all the business priorities. Moreover, Business leaders will regard your ideas more if you better understand business priorities and UX elements. Also, learning about the communication strategy focusing on business goals and user needs is an add-on. 

Continue reading further to learn more about ways of matching your UX design strategy with your business objectives and develop a solid UX portfolio that caters to your business priorities as well;

can speak english and malay

use high performance technology

hates computer or apps crashes

face hardship in pace of change in technology

love visual appeal

Features or functions requirement in video conferencing software :

the software no need to join or host meetings (easy to use)

the software has no time limits (high performance)

create a likely virtual living room software (visual appeal)

create software in multiple language

*user needs not government needs

Service design starts with identifying user needs. If you don’t know what the user needs are, you won’t build the right thing. Do research, analyse data, talk to users. Don’t make assumptions. Have empathy for users, and should remember that what they ask for isn't always what they need.

What we mean when we say “service transformation”, by Mike Bracken

Most of government is mostly service design most of the time, by Matt Edgar

Vertical campfires: our user research walls, by Kate Towsey

The Parliamentary Digital Service’s (PDS) first ask is, “whose needs are we tasked with meeting?”.

That must be their starting point for early digital transformation work. It will help them discover:

who are their users?

what they’re trying to achieve?

what they need to do it?

The answers help describe their user needs and will guide PDS’ work from then on. They’ll continually revisit and research user needs as they deliver transformation. Knowing what people need, and why, focuses PDS’ digital strategy and roadmap. It also drives delivery of specific services.

Simply put: who are Parliament’s users and what do they need?

You’d think this is easy to answer: it’s the MPs and Peers. They rely on services to help them do things like debate and scrutinise legislation. But they’re one of many types of user, trying to do different things, with different user needs. Understanding and mapping these will highlight how different users’ motivations and needs interact or overlap, and therefore ultimately what services you’ll build.

This is a continuous process of user research and rapid iterative delivery. Things change as you deliver services, like behaviours and processes. Opportunities appear that you didn’t imagine before. This is transformation - not only making sure services are developed that meet needs, but an opportunity to make sure the services are the right ones in the first place.

Then iterate and iterate again - you’re never finished. Things can always be improved, business as usual (BAU) is this process, not some maintenance or simply operational caretaking mode after you’re done.

You get the idea.

It all starts with knowing who your users are.

While this is a piece of work that needs to be carried out by the teams inside the PDS, here’s a starting point of how it might break down:

People and organisations outside of government:

The public

Press (including bloggers)

Researchers and academics

Lobbyists, third sector policy and campaigns teams as well as trade organisations (Unions, Guilds, Royal Colleges).

Members and their staff:

Members of the House of Commons (MPs)

MPs’ staff

Members of the House of Lords (Peers)

Peers’ staff

Parliamentary staff (people who work for one or other house, not for MPs). These include:

People administering the legislative work of Parliament, such as Clerks

Security

Those supporting MPs, such as library researchers and information professionals

The back office staff that you need to run any large organisation who need just as much support as they would if they worked for TfL or Marks and Spencer - in facilities, HR, IT, catering, procurement and so on

Other areas of government:

The Executive part of Parliament - e.g. Whips Offices

Auditors (especially Public Accounts Committee and the NAO)

Civil Service (who need to know about Parliamentary Questions, progress of a bill, select committee timings etc)

Other governments (devolved administrations, European governments and the broader Commonwealth)

Get them in the room, consult them repeatedly along the way. Test what you build with them on a very frequent basis. Invite them to talk to the team. Work out how to measure whether they’re being successful, or not, with new services, compared to anything you have now.

Share the outputs of those conversations so the broader public can see why decisions were made to prioritise one user need over another (just as GDS have done).

There is a high chance that for most products or services differing user needs will conflict. This is where vision, strategy and leadership come in. PDS will have to explain to all their users why decisions have been made, and stick to focusing on their highest priority groups for that product.

This process has to start with identifying users, researching their needs and publicly showing the results of that analysis and the strategies to meet the needs identified.

So the challenge for PDS is to answer the questions: who are your users, what do they need and how are these competing needs being prioritised and delivered?

Further reading:

How to focus a service on users – guide https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-centred-design/user-needs.html

Ways to understand your users and their needs – guide https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-centred-design/user-research/index.html

Start with needs – design principles https://www.gov.uk/design-principles#first

Prioritising needs, and product ownership – video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=502ILHjX9EE

Reflecting on the big idea behind GOV.UK – article https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2012/10/09/exploring-user-needs/