[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-panel-devel
Subject:    Re: Survey to prepare 'Next Workspace Iteration' sprint
From:       Björn Balazs <bjoern.balazs () user-prompt ! com>
Date:       2012-06-05 9:23:15
Message-ID: 6597794.YOANuVJ7rk () linux-b13x ! site
[Download RAW message or body]

Marco, all,

Am Dienstag, 5. Juni 2012, 10:01:44 schrieb Marco Martin:
> On Monday 04 June 2012, Bj=F6rn Balazs wrote:
> > Aaron, all,
> > =

> > thanks for your mail. It is good to adress these kinds of worries direc=
tly
> > - and before the survey gets started. I actually get confronted with th=
em
> > often in my work.
> > =

> > I personally think we do not need to worry. In most projects I worked
> > with,
> > people tend to agree with me at latest at the end of the project ;)
> > =

> > Let me explain a bit - I hope you put the worries aside as well:
> > =

> > We are not asking people how to build the bridge in terms of e.g. static
> > calculations. These have to be done by an engineer. No discussion about
> > this.
> > =

> > What I try to do with this survey, is to ask users / the community to
> > report about their life - or to stay in the picture: let them imagine
> > where the bridge could be built and how the existence of the bridge wou=
ld
> > change their life.
> =

> answers could tend to be more how they want their life or how they want to
> be seen as rather that the reality, it may be not completely useless tough

Yeah - all answers will be biased somehow. This is true simply by the resea=
rch =

method we choose. =


We - as the designers and creators of KDE - will have to understand and =

believe what people say.  And we will use only what makes sense to us to =

create a vision, personas, etc - and at the end software.

> > people as possible into the development of (Free) Software Products. Th=
is
> > will lead to better products, more (loyal) users, more advertising and
> > more volunteers that participate, e.g. in bug triaging or translation.
> > People will identify with a product they feel they have influenced - th=
ey
> > will get a feeling of self efficacy. Of course this will not be the res=
ult
> > of a one-time survey, but gathering experiences with this kind of appro=
ach
> > might bring us into the situation of a cultural change in KDE, that is
> > less developer-centric and more focussed on the users.
> =

> completely agree that a cultural change like that is somewhat needed, and
> this survey is not useless in that regard, even tough probably of a
> somewhat limited help, we have to take that data as something informative,
> but something that has to be interpreted beyond what it seems to say (ie
> beyond what users think they need)
> =

> we should always remember that user led is never exactly a good approach
> http://uxmag.com/articles/user-led-does-not-equal-user-centered

Nobody ever suggested to do a user-led approach, to stick in the terminolog=
y =

of the article. Even though I have a somewhat more differentiated view on t=
he =

topic than it is been layed out in the article, the main points are correct =

(ok, the article is short and hence has to simplify things).

There is a quote that is supposed to be said by Henry Ford: "If I had asked =

people what they want, they would have said faster horses." This is - sorry=
 - =

the bullshit approach of letting people tell me what to do. This not how =

working with users works.

When I talk about user research here, I always have in mind to let people t=
ell =

about their life, their fears, their experience - areas they are absolute =

experts in. This is why I tried to formulate the questions on the first pag=
e =

to be close to peoples actual experience. =


The second page is actually an experiment. As Aaron pointed to the existing =

vision, I tried to get feedback on what is beeing said there. My experience =

is: A good vision can be tested by end-users. I had a lot of problems (and =

still are not 100% satisfied) transforming our vision into something I thin=
k =

could perhaps be testable. In this matter I actually think the vision is no=
t =

as good as it could be. One outcome of the sprint could perhaps be a better =

formulated vision. An end-user testable vision. It might in the end not sta=
te =

anything different than now, just be formulated in a way, people can =

understand better. =


In the end: User research has to start somewhere. When we finish the survey=
, =

we will know much better, what we should have asked. And we will simply use =

this knowledge to make an even better next survey. I am very happy you agre=
e =

on the need for some changes in the culture. Let's start to experiment!

Thanks again for your feedback

Cheers,
Bj=F6rn

> Cheers,
> Marco Martin
> _______________________________________________
> Plasma-devel mailing list
> Plasma-devel@kde.org
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/plasma-devel
-- =

Dipl.-Psych. Bj=F6rn Balazs
Business Management & Research
T +49 30 6098548-21 | M +49 179 4541949

User Prompt GmbH | Psychologic IT Expertise =

Gr=FCnberger Str. 49, 10245 Berlin | www.user-prompt.com =

HRB 142277 | AG Berlin Charlottenburg | Gesch=E4ftsf=FChrer Bj=F6rn Balazs
_______________________________________________
Plasma-devel mailing list
Plasma-devel@kde.org
https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/plasma-devel
[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]