Having spent a significant amount of time developing software for both private industry and government, we’ve noticed something. There seems to be a growing tendency for the government to discount the value of a user-centered design approach. Why is this? Perhaps it’s a response to contractual pressure—one that places a near singular focus on creating a functional requirements document that measures success based on how well we satisfied the demands of the requirements traceability matrix (RTM). Most RTMs reviewed are silent, or vague at best, when it comes to the goals of a user-centered design approach. Without a mutually agreed definition between service provider and customer of such ‘fuzzy’ concepts, service providers have no choice but to check boxes on an RTM to determine whether the system met expectations.
However, modern day consumers have grown to demand a great deal from their technology. Unquestionably, Steve Jobs’ fingerprints can be traced to this movement and most office system users would agree that we, as software-system designers, would benefit greatly from adopting the view that our solutions are in fact consumer products; not merely information systems. And with that in mind, we should challenge ourselves to deliver end-user office systems that are as easy, efficient, and as attractive as the apps on our mobile phones.
