Moral needs and user needs
That products should be ‘user-focused’ goes without queustion these days. At least by everyone apart from Cassie Robinson, who writes:
Sometimes, there's more than user stories and 'jobs to be done':This has been sitting uncomfortably with me for a while now. In part that’s because when anything becomes a bit of a dogma I question it, but it’s also because I couldn’t quite marry the mantra to my own personal experiences.
For example, if we are designing the new digital justice system using success measures based on how efficiently the user can complete the thing they are trying to do rather than on whether they actually receive justice, what’s at risk there? And if we prioritise that over time, are we in some way eroding the collective awareness of what “good” justice as an outcome looks like?She makes a good point. Robinson suggests that we consider 'moral needs' as well as 'user needs':
As I continue my thinking around Project MoodleNet this is definitely something to bear in mind.Designing and iterating services based on current user needs and behaviours means that they are never being designed for who isn’t there. Whose voice isn’t in the data? And how will the new institutions that are needed be created unless we focus more on collective agency and collective needs?
Source: Cassie Robinson