UX defined and clarified

I like Kristi Olsen's definition of UX:


As UX researchers, our goal is to identify customer pain points and obstacles in a given workflow or process, then tell a compelling story about their risks and provide general recommendations for alleviating those risks.
It's pretty succinct and clear. Methods vary, but the goal is the same.


Mike Hughes on UX Matters argues that we sometimes make a faulty assumption in our view of the "user".
Users are not spherical. They are irregular, lumpy beings who introduce spin and resistance into your well-planned happy paths. Walk through a design, explicitly asking at each step: What might a reasonable person do that could lead to failure? Examine the consequences, then change your design to prevent, mitigate, or repair the damage that could result. If you need to convince others to implement your solution, either involve them directly in the walkthrough or document negative scenarios to the same level of detail that you document happy paths. One lesson I learned as a usability test facilitator: If developers feel users’ pain, they will fix the problems. Describing negative scenarios in detail is one way to shift the perception from “Stupid user!” to “Oh, wow, that would be a reasonable thing to do, and look at what it can lead to!”

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