Re:Ask HN: When to Build a Faster Horse?
by Someone on Saturday January 02, 2021 @12:46PM
(#25614601)
Listening to your customers doesn’t mean “give them what they think they want”.
Customers typically just mention a solution that’s a bit better than what they have, and won’t even mention the root problem they want to solve (they’ll ask for faster ways to fill in paper forms, for example, without questioning the existence of those forms)
Good designers will ask follow-up questions to unearth the problem to be solved, then think about the best (given the state of technology, available budget, political and social constraints) solution. That may be a faster horse, but need not be.
Customers typically just mention a solution that’s a bit better than what they have, and won’t even mention the root problem they want to solve (they’ll ask for faster ways to fill in paper forms, for example, without questioning the existence of those forms)
Good designers will ask follow-up questions to unearth the problem to be solved, then think about the best (given the state of technology, available budget, political and social constraints) solution. That may be a faster horse, but need not be.