Designing Connected Products

Chapter 5. Understanding People and Context

BY ELIZABETH GOODMAN

Most people do not have limitless funds and patience for untried products and services. They tend to have habits that they don’t want to change. They have limited budgets. They are not enthusiastic about learning new technical skills. Moreover, they have an inconvenient tendency to ask themselves whether a new purchase is really worth the effort, expense, and disruption to their routines. The answer to this question, as many makers of connected products have found, is usually “no.”

In this chapter, we’ll show how early engagement with potential customers and users can help you set up connected products and services for mass-market success and avoid expensive and wasteful failures.

This chapter introduces:

• Concepts and questions to guide early investigation of potential audiences and contexts of use (Initial Questions and Concepts)

• Methods and tools for answering those questions (Techniques: From Asking to Watching to Making)

This chapter addresses the following issues:

• How to define product roles beyond that of “the user” (Actors, roles, and expertise)

• Why it’s important to identify where needs and roles conflict (When needs conflict)

• What contextual factors matter most to connected product design (The Context of Interaction)

Throughout this chapter, we’ll be using a hypothetical home security design project to illustrate key points.

Note

This chapter focuses on questions and methods specific to connected products and services. ...