Observing the User Experience, 2nd Edition

Chapter 3

Balancing Needs through Iterative Development

In a perfect world, product development processes would only be about making the user happy. All software (and hardware, and music players, and cars and pretty much anything with a human interface) would focus on helping people lead more satisfying lives.

But the world is far from ideal. Finding a single perfect way of doing any task is unlikely. Even ideal user solutions do not always make ideal products. Moreover, products are generally not created solely for the benefit of their users: They are created by companies in order to make money. (Nonprofits are, of course, not primarily interested in making money. But even nonprofits need to stay financially viable and meet their other organizational ...