高级设计顾问Colette Marshall和高级技术顾问Robert Sinclair, Informed Solutions
想象一下这样的场景——你刚刚完成了一份用户研究报告, 和50多个不同的参与者交谈. 然后你整理这些发现, 提取关键主题和见解, 现在,您需要通过编译用户需求列表来完成所有工作. 简单的,对吧?
用户需求是服务设计和开发中最有价值的资产之一(如果不是全部的话). 他们塑造了服务,告诉你怎样才能让它成功. 毕竟,设计没有人真正使用的东西有什么意义呢? 看看任何常见的设计标准和最佳实践.g. GDS, DSSS,双钻石-你会发现“了解用户需求”在任何指导的开始.
识别真正的用户需求
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking user needs are just writing out what the service needs to do from a user perspective. 虽然技术上没有错, 它有可能掩盖核心需要解决的问题,因为首先, 你会把参与者说他们需要的东西放在表面上,或者其次, 你会直接跳到解决方案.
的 challenge lies in uncovering the real user needs from a tangle of “I think it should do this” and “why not make it do that”. As researchers we have to put on our detective hats to get to the root issue and express that as the user need.
需要和欲望
Let’s take an example – 75% of the participants you engaged during research expressed frustration at not being able to view their submitted form after sending it off. Many stated this is because they wanted to remind themselves what they’d applied for so they could budget accordingly.
乍一看, 我们可以假设用户的需求是:“作为客户, 我需要查看我提交的表格,这样我就可以知道我可以得到多少钱。”.
是的,有些参与者可能会说“我需要查看提交的表单”. 如果你把它分解, what they actually want is to know how much money they’re going to get so they can budget accordingly. And that can be supported in a number of ways that aren’t necessarily showing them the submitted form.
考虑到这一点, 更准确地表达用户需求是:“作为客户, I want to know how much money I will receive if my application is accepted so that I can budget accordingly”.
用这个, a designer is able to verify how successful a proposed solution is by testing whether or not the customer can achieve the “so that”.
用户需求的黄金法则
在通知, we cement best practice in user-centred design throughout our wider approach to service design and development. 的 InformedACADEMY© 撰写良好用户需求的大师班教导准确的重要性, 在开发有效的解决方案时证明用户的需求. 这可以通过遵循我们的三条黄金法则来实现:
1. 用户想要,而不是用户需要
从来没有人说过“我登录时需要双因素身份验证(2FA)”, 但他们想要的是确保服务的安全性. 将用户研究结果转化为用户需求时, it’s important to remember this distinction as it can be the key to both keeping users happy and making sure they get what they really need.
然而, 这就是业务需求和用户需求之间的交集变得有趣的地方. 企业可能要求用户具有2FA才能使用服务以遵守法规, 然而,最终用户可能并不关心或, 在某些情况下, 我反对2FA,因为它涉及到额外的努力. This requirement needs to be expressed from the perspectives of all the different people involved to accurately capture the complexity, 所以:
- “作为法定代表人, 我希望用户必须使用2FA登录, 使服务符合规定.”
- “作为最终用户, I want to know the service is secure, so that I feel assured my data is protected.”
- “作为最终用户, 我想尽可能简单地登录, 这样我就可以在部队里做我想做的事了.”
Rarely is a requirement as straightforward as only one person needing a very specific thing done in a very specific way. Good user needs and business requirements should be able to capture these intricacies and be used as a ruler to measure success against.
2. 有证据支持
的 reason user needs are such a valuable asset in designing and developing any service is because they are the single source of truth of what people actually need from the service. 然而,要自信地使用它们,它们必须植根于实际证据. 因此,能够将任何捕获的需求指向真正的用户研究发现是至关重要的. 如果用户的需求不能由某人实际说过的话或显示要做的事情来支持, 那么这只是一个假设.
Evidence-based user needs are the crucial link between user research and service design – they lay out exactly what the solution needs to do and why, 给设计师留下空间,让他们发挥创意,想出不同的方法来做到这一点. 这就引出了最后一条规则……
3. 永远是解决方案的不可知论者
When speaking to users during research, a common pitfall that many fall into is assuming a solution. It’s important to keep in mind that what users say they want is often reflective of what they know and have experienced. 这可能是基于他们以前遇到过类似的服务或系统, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect what the best solution could be for meeting their underlying needs.
让我们考虑前面的示例,其中用户表示需要查看他们提交的表单. 如果我们直接得出结论,解决方案就是简单地给他们访问表单的权限, we miss out on opportunities to create more innovative and potentially more effective solutions.
而不是被用户提出的解决方案所限制, take their input as an insight into their underlying needs and use that to inform the design process. 你会发现有无数的方法可以满足用户的需求, 而且不局限于特定的解, 您的服务设计可以变得更有创意和更有效.
在开发过程中,编写良好的用户需求是一个经常被忽视的步骤. 如果给予它应有的考虑, 根据准确和基于证据的用户需求研究, 这可能是一个足够好的解决方案和一个伟大的解决方案之间的区别.