Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

We often state that we can’t do something. We rarely finish that statement with a reason. The reason usually leads to a solution.

Several years ago I was working on a project where we were building a small gadget. The user was to take the gadget outdoors (backyard) and attach it to their grill. We created a design for the gadget, but the response was:

We can’t use that.

Disappointed that the user couldn’t use our wonderful design, we pressed the issue. The response was:

It is too small.

We were very disappointed as we felt a small gadget was quite an elegant design. We pressed the issue. The response was:

We can’t install it with our hands.

Aha! was the response of one colleague. We’ll do it this way. He quickly drew a tool that would hold the gadget and allow a person to install the gadget easily. The user was happy.

Let’s review the conversation. The user statement went from:

We can’t use that

to

We can’t use that because it is too small to install with our hands.

The user had finished the “we can’t” statement. The designers were then able to design something that worked around the user’s situation.

Here are a few more examples:

We can’t use that (because it is too expensive (it won’t fit in this year’s budget))

Solution: We can spread the cost over the budgets for several years.

We can’t use that (because it is too complex (our current workforce doesn’t understand the controls))

Solution: We can change the controls and include a video tutorial with it.

The extra statements from the user are not easy to obtain. We have to ask for them; we have to ask for more information. People don’t often like to provide more information, especially if that information explains one of their shortcomings (we can’t install it with our hands, it won’t fit in this year’s budget, our current workforce doesn’t understand the controls, etc.).

Patience and tact are usually required and may not be present.