I read an article (link to follow in update) that said essentially that user research does not lead to innovation, but feature bloat. I had all sorts of problems with this, but the main one that has emerged in my day in, day out user research, is that I CAN SEE THE FUTURE. No... Seriously.
And it makes sense really, when you apply the job description of a user researcher, with what we know today about the way the human brain works. Specifically the way the human subconscious solves problems in the background of your day to day life. Set it a task, and sleep on it, it's really a form of creativity, to connect the dots on all the apparently disparate ideas and come up with a brand new innovation.
There are many scientific links between REM sleep and creativity, and I also (strangely enough) drop straight into dreaming sleep within seconds.
How many times have you tried to work something out consciously and failed only to have the answer miraculously appear in your consciousness at some random time in the future. Most often this is in trying to remember something, where you know you know it, but can't quite think of it, 30 minutes will go by and 'ding!' like the microwave going off, it pops into your head, NOW I remember, Lorena is the name of the vampire that made Bill (True Blood reference).
So the reason that I can see the future of technology, is that through my job talking to users, and observing problems with todays software and technology, all these little puzzles are going into my head, and my brain works on them, like an endless problem solving piece of code. It just loops around and around until it has all the variables it needs, and voila! At some time in the future supposedly with enough rest, and enough raw material of experiences with real users on the topic, the design idea just comes to me in a glorious picture. This happens mostly when I am at rest, or doing something mundane like driving.
It makes sense really, and I would be curious if this happens with other user experience researchers, having a high quantity of really great ideas? I recently won an Innovation quest award for an idea that came to me in just the same way.
And it makes sense really, when you apply the job description of a user researcher, with what we know today about the way the human brain works. Specifically the way the human subconscious solves problems in the background of your day to day life. Set it a task, and sleep on it, it's really a form of creativity, to connect the dots on all the apparently disparate ideas and come up with a brand new innovation.
There are many scientific links between REM sleep and creativity, and I also (strangely enough) drop straight into dreaming sleep within seconds.
How many times have you tried to work something out consciously and failed only to have the answer miraculously appear in your consciousness at some random time in the future. Most often this is in trying to remember something, where you know you know it, but can't quite think of it, 30 minutes will go by and 'ding!' like the microwave going off, it pops into your head, NOW I remember, Lorena is the name of the vampire that made Bill (True Blood reference).
So the reason that I can see the future of technology, is that through my job talking to users, and observing problems with todays software and technology, all these little puzzles are going into my head, and my brain works on them, like an endless problem solving piece of code. It just loops around and around until it has all the variables it needs, and voila! At some time in the future supposedly with enough rest, and enough raw material of experiences with real users on the topic, the design idea just comes to me in a glorious picture. This happens mostly when I am at rest, or doing something mundane like driving.
It makes sense really, and I would be curious if this happens with other user experience researchers, having a high quantity of really great ideas? I recently won an Innovation quest award for an idea that came to me in just the same way.
