Discussions

The VALUE of asking “why”?

Session Title

The VALUE of asking “why”?

Presenter

Daniel Szuc, Apogee Usability Asia Ltd

Session Type: Discussion

When looking at a product have you ever heard yourself saying “why would anyone buy this?” or “why would people use this?” – I have.

Unfortunately, there have been many times when I look at products and feel the “I don’t get it moment”. I mean, I understand the functions being demonstrated but I don’t understand the problem the product team is trying to solve.

So we put our doubts aside and start working on the product anyway as you know at some point you can help simplify, redesign and make usability improvements. But something still niggles at you. What is missing?

Understanding value.

The problem is we don’t spend enough time up front on projects discussing, assessing, defining and refining the value of what we make.

Join Daniel Szuc to better understanding the value of the stuff we work on and the stuff you value in your life and why.

Biography

Daniel Szuc is Principal Usability Consultant at Apogee, a user research consultancy based in Hong Kong. Dan previously worked on a usability team for Telstra Australia and has lectured about User Experience in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the USA, New Zealand and Japan.

He co-wrote a “Usability Kit” with Gerry Gaffney which is an implementation guide providing best practices and guidelines for usability teams. Dan holds a BS in Information Management from Melbourne University in Australia.

One Comment

  1. Posted October 1, 2009 at 10:39 pm

    Understanding value is absolutely critical to design—I would attend this discussion.