Three questions

I’ve got a lot of filtering and prioritisation to do. There is a lot that is new to me. I’m getting to know a new organisation, new people, a new sector, new customers, new technologies (and a few old ones that are new to me).

I need to start a journey towards being people-centric. I need us to start to talk about needs, not requirements. To talk about outcomes, not merely deliverables.

I’ve also had it with the language of “user”; they end up being singular and too often dehumanised. “People” is better. That’s individual and group, and inherently human.

We need to research people, to understand their needs. We need to build that capability within the organisation and with others. But that will take time, and I’ve got a long list to filter and prioritise.

So I need to start to make the shift happen, but quickly.

I’ve been increasingly interested in the ideas underpinning Value Proposition Design, of customers who have jobs to do, and services that help them do those jobs better:

I also know how using spending controls can help provide sticks as well as carrots to get people to work differently.

So here’s the idea. Three questions that will start to signal a move to people-centric design but keep things simple:

• Who will use it?
• What jobs will they use it for?
• How does that make things better than today?

This isn’t instead of proper analysis. Just a way to filter, a way to prioritise. I’ve got a lot of filtering and prioritisation to do…