Читать книгу The Lean Product Playbook - Olsen Dan - Страница 16

Some people criticize user-centered design by saying that talking with users will not lead you to come up with new, breakthrough solutions. Those critics like to quote Henry Ford, who famously said: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” They also like to point out the example of Steve Jobs and how Apple has launched many successful products using what seems to be a very “inside-out” product development process. In fact, Steve Jobs cited the same Henry Ford quote in a 2008 interview with Forbes.

It is true that customers are not likely to identify the next breakthrough solution in your product category. But why would anyone expect them to? They are not product designers, product managers, or technologists. The fallacious thinking comes in when people use this argument to rationalize why it's not important to talk with customers or to understand their needs and preferences. Most people who make that argument are really using it as an excuse to not talk with customers because they want to adopt an “inside-out” philosophy. They think that they have all the answers and that talking with customers is a waste of time. They don't understand problem space versus solution space.

It's likely true that customers won't invent a breakthrough product for you; but that doesn't mean it's a waste of time to understand their needs and preferences. On the contrary, a good understanding of customer needs and preferences helps product teams explore new potential solutions and estimate how valuable customers are likely to find each one to be.

Critics of user-centered design like to justify their views by saying, “Apple doesn't talk to customers.” At Apple's 1997 Worldwide Developers Conference, Steve Jobs shared a more enlightened perspective that is consistent with the Lean Product Process when he said:

You've got to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can't start with the technology and try to figure out where you're going to try to sell it… As we have tried to come up with a strategy and a vision for Apple, it started with: What incredible benefits can we give to the customer? …Not starting with: Let's sit down with the engineers and figure out what awesome technology we have and then how we're going to market that. And I think that's the right path to take.