How user-centred is your design process?

In the Truly XD UX Maturity Model, the process dimension describes whether a team works in a user-centred way – not just once, but systematically and repeatably. It's one of four equally weighted dimensions, alongside strategy, culture and outcomes.

I explain how the maturity model works, which dimensions it assesses and what levels there are in the article ‘The Truly XD UX Maturity Model’. This article is the first of four, each taking a closer look at one dimension. This one is about process: what it covers and what happens when design processes aren't user-centred.

I'm starting with process because it's comparatively easy to influence. The biggest hurdle is usually budget – in time as well as money. A small design team can often shape its own design process to a degree, as long as it meets its deadlines. The person responsible for design can often allocate their own budget, as long as the required results are delivered. See where I'm going with this? The circle in which something needs to change is comparatively small here. Admittedly, as you will be able to see, I'm sticking my neck out a bit with ‘easy’. 😉

What is a user-centred design process?

User-centred design, also known as human-centred design, is an approach to problem-solving. A user-centred design process is the project workflow that makes this approach workable day to day.

The approach aims to create solutions that are useful, easy to use and accessible, and that fit the needs, behaviours and life contexts of the people who use them. So a design can be called user-centred when it…

• solves a real problem (what)
• for the people who actually have that problem, in line with their needs (who)
• in a simple, accessible way (how).

For that to happen, design decisions need to be based on data rather than gut feeling. That means data or information on the what (defining the problem), the who (target group) and the how (context, usage behaviour and habits).

Data doesn't mean big data, by the way. Five usability tests with real users beat every assumption made in a meeting room.

Based on ISO 9241-210, a process can be called user-centred when it…

• builds knowledge: It makes sure the information on the what, who and how is there before decisions are made.
• involves people: Users aren't just involved at the start but again and again: when understanding the problem, when testing and after launch.
• is iterative: Ideas are tested early and cheaply, as sketches or prototypes, and improved based on feedback.
• considers everyone: Accessibility and different lived realities are part of the process from the outset, not a check just before launch.
• is used systematically: It's a fixed part of every project and doesn't hinge on one dedicated person. Otherwise, if that person leaves, the process leaves with them.
• fits the team: Methods and scope are chosen so your team can actually sustain them.

Up until now: Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Right? 😉

Benefits of this process

A user-centred design process makes sure you solve real problems rather than symptoms, because you know the people who have these problems and how they deal with them today.

An example: Imagine a sustainable online shop for children's clothing – a B Corp with a small product team. Everyone on the team is certain: people abandon their purchase because the checkout is too long. A new one-page checkout is already planned. Before building anything, the team talks to five customers and looks at where exactly people drop off. The result: the checkout isn't the problem at all. Many parents don't know which size to order and leave the site to check elsewhere. Good size guidance right on the product page solves this, costs a fraction and cuts returns along the way. Which fits rather nicely with the sustainability mission, too.

Disadvantage without this process

Without a user-centred process, you're more likely to burn time and budget – and in the worst case, trust as well. The absolute worst case, of course, is that your team is working on a solution to a problem that doesn't actually exist (and therefor no one needs). Other horror scenarios:

• You're working on solutions for people who would solve the problem in a completely different way.
• Or you're offering solutions to people who don't see the problem as their problem at all.

Hopefully reality is rarely that extreme. But at the end of the day, all of these scenarios mean you're wasting money and time you could have saved. On top of that, you may be gambling away trust and reputation. And that's far more expensive than squandered budget: budget can be renegotiated, trust can't.

An example: Imagine a museum uses grant money to commission an app for its new exhibition, complete with augmented reality, an audio guide and a quiz with features and prompts designed to build visitor loyalty. Nobody actually spoke to visitors beforehand. After launch, it turns out that regular visitors won't download an app for a single visit – and new audiences even less so. The grant is spent, there's no money for improvements, and the expensive app falls short of expectations. A few conversations and a test with a clickable prototype would have shown this early on.

How design processes impact your organisation

Depending on what kind of company or organisation you are, this problem-solving approach has effects of varying strength – but they're always worth it:

• Critical infrastructure, healthcare, public administration: Here, user-centred design can sometimes save lives, for instance when a medical device or emergency information is easy to understand even under stress. It's no coincidence that use errors in healthcare are treated as a safety risk. For medical devices, there's even a dedicated standard for the usability process: IEC 62366-1.
• B2B: With a specialist portal or membership management software, for example, a user-centred process can save working time every single day: fewer input errors, fewer support requests, faster onboarding. And tools people enjoy using get cancelled less often.
• B2C: In an online shop or ticketing system, it can decide whether EVERYONE finds what they're looking for – and whether they come back. Anyone who can't make it to the checkout buys elsewhere. That includes people who use screen readers.
• Culture and non-profit: Here, it can influence whether an offering really reaches the people it's intended for. Anyone looking for a solution to their problem who lands on an offering that answers all their questions feels understood and well looked after. That's exactly the kind of impact funders want to see.

A user-centred process can deliver such comprehensive insights that it shapes product strategy, brand identity and vision for the long term. It sheds light on every area in which people come into contact with your organisation.

Conversely, the organisation of course needs to know and value the potential of this approach in order to provide the time and budget that make it possible. It's perfectly legitimate to take an iterative approach here. Try out individual activities – a first usability test with five people before the next release, say – and see what it brings. Which brings us to the next point.

How process affects the other dimensions

• Culture: As soon as potential users and their problems get a face and are talked about, organisational goals suddenly become tangible across departments, regardless of each department's own goals – and can in turn have a positive effect on them. Some team members see recordings of usability tests showing users fail for the first time, while the support team yawns in recognition. In that moment, a ticket that's been passed back and forth between departments becomes a shared problem that everyone understands and wants to solve.
• Strategy: Potential users' needs can uncover opportunities and reveal areas for innovation. Even if most business pivot stories are put down to ‘the stroke of genius of an inspiring founder’, it doesn't always have to be that romantic. Countless growth hacking services and data-driven growth frameworks such as ‘pivot or persevere’ tell a far more sober story.
• Outcomes: Once we start thinking and acting in processes, we also want to know whether what we're doing has an impact. That way, the process directly influences the outcomes, which we can then look at more meaningfully and interpret as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Remember the children's clothing shop? Because the team knows which problem the size guidance is meant to solve, they don't just look at page views after launch, but at what counts: how many orders are still abandoned, and how many items come back because of the wrong size?

Conclusion and five tips for your design process

If this has left you overwhelmed, you will be happy to hear: A user-centred design process doesn't have to start big to make a difference. It just has to happen reliably. Start small, make it repeatable and see what it brings. You and your team can get going as early as next week:

1. Look at your current process and work out where it would be easiest to make improvements and bring in user insights.
2. Gather those insights once, for example through a usability test with a prototype.
3. Feed the insights into your work by adapting your solution accordingly.
4. Publish your work and look at the results. Are they what you expected? Better? Worse?
5. Make this step a fixed part of your next project because: user-centered design is a process, not a project.

Further reading

• Human-centered Design, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-centered_design
• User-centered design, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User-centered_design
• Principles of Human-Centered Design (Don Norman), Nielsen Norman Group: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmM0kRf8Dbk
• ISO 9241-210:2019, Ergonomics of human-system interaction – Part 210: Human-centred design for interactive systems: www.iso.org/standard/77520.html
• IEC 62366-1, Medical devices – Part 1: Application of usability engineering to medical devices (German edition DIN EN 62366-1:2021-08): www.dinmedia.de/de/norm/din-en-62366-1/338440028
• Famous Startup Pivots, Startup to Scaleup: www.startuptoscaleup.com/resources/famous-startup-pivots
• Pivot vs Persevere: The Data-Driven Framework for Growth Decisions, www.momentumnexus.com/blog/pivot-vs-persevere-framework