Enterprise Search

Chapter 3. Defining User Requirements

All effective systems are based on a good understanding of user requirements. “We want it to work like Google” is an aspiration and not a user requirement. In this chapter a range of approaches are suggested to help define user requirements. There is no single approach that is better than the others and usually a blend of several is required. However a balance needs to be kept. At one end of the spectrum is the Google approach, in which innovations are tested out on customers and if there is a positive reaction then the innovation becomes a Google product. Apple is at the other end of the spectrum. The late Steve Jobs commented that Apple needed to provide customers with what they wanted even though they don’t know what this was.

One of the challenges of enterprise search is that almost everyone uses Google’s public web search as the definition of best practice. In Chapter 2 I pointed out that this is not a useful approach to defining the requirements for enterprise search but any discussion about user requirements will almost inevitably migrate towards a discussion about Google.

The general lack of support for search invariably means that little attention is paid to defining user requirements, and all too often changes to either a user interface or the implementation of a new search application are largely based on anecdote and hearsay.

The value of user research is not just in defining the requirements for technology but also in setting a benchmark ...