This text is about a company, which observes people instead of doing regular market research or relying on expert opinions, in order to develop innovative products. The key points of this text was, that while designing, we shouldn’t limit ourselves to interviews or rely too strongly on these, because people don’t really give natural answers. They sometimes tend to say things, that they think other people want to hear, for example that a product is good, even though they are not fully satisfied with it. Some people also might not have the vocabulary to express their thoughts completely, so it’s hard to really communicate, how you really feel about a product.
The approach described in this text reminded me of some methods, that we used during the IAD process module. I have two different opinions regarding interviews. I think, for people to give honest and genuine answers, the interviewer has an obligation to make the people feel heard and understood and actually meet them at eye-level. It’s easier to get honest answers out of people, if you actually see them as people instead making them feel like they are only a source of information for your gain. There is also a certain fear of judgement, that comes with interviews. As the person being interviewed, somtimes there might be a fear of saying the wrong things (people-pleasing). I’m not quite sure, if I like interviews, because I feel like there are better ways to understand people and their needs, instead of just asking them a list of prepared questions. For me, the natural aspect of the conversation is kind of lost in interviews. But as a tool to gain fast information from people, I find it very useful.
Innovation is an interesting topic to me, because I feel like most people think, that something innovative has to be something completely new and create big changes. But to me, something innovative can be a small change as well. One can never now, how much of an impact a small change can have. Looking at the process of innovations is the most important thing of it all, especially if the start and the end of the process are compared.