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Subject:RE: Hackos' minimalism seminar -- some insights From:Mike West <Mike -dot- West -at- oz -dot- quest -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 3 Dec 2002 09:31:56 +1100
> > If companies don't
> > want to spend money on user analysis, and if the user isn't
> interested
> > in being analysed in the first place, then what can you do?
>
> One way to learn more about your users when you have no budget and no
> pet users: Try talking to tech support .. <snip>
That's one good way. Reading and research is another.
Talking to the people who actually conceived and
initiated the programming project is another -- they
almost always had a specific business need in mind
when they started. The hacks cutting the code may
have little idea about *why* they are doing what
they've been asked to do, but *someone* in the
organization knows the use cases that the product
is supposed to solve. Those are the people who
can teach you about the users. These may be in
engineering, or in sales, or in the CEOs office. But
you can bet that the owners of the business are
not spending money on development without some
idea of who their customers are and what business
needs the product is supposed to satisfy.
--
Mike W
Melbourne
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