How to design products for everyone?
If your product is not thought to actually improve the way most people live and you are just designing something for just a few privileged, there is probably some work to do.
I feel that there are every day more and more startups, more and more founders, more and more ideas coming to reality, and this is incredibly exciting.
Entrepreneurship is one of the core components of the successful societies of today and tomorrow. But as it gets more and more common and even accessible to be considered an entrepreneur there are also problems that arise with that.
Is not a secret that one of the most important incentives to create a start-up is financial, which is the opportunity of creating wealth individually and collectively (Mainly for Shareholders and some employees). The other side of the coin is the urge, desire, and commitment to solving a problem for a community.
The difficulty comes when the first one overpowers the second one and we end up making decisions that reflect a beautiful balance sheet and financial projections but that actually get away from the intention of making the world a better place.
So in that sense, When you are the leader of any kind of organization especially start-ups you have the opportunity, but also the responsibility, of addressing the most challenging questions of humanity, your brain can’t be just focused on the product-market fit and the revenue (Being an essential part of course) but you need to be able to see beyond and explain how your idea is making the world actually a better place addressing macro problems like inequality.
And this starts from the way that you think about and design your product. If you just see it as a way of making a profit I’m sure you already realized that this article is not for you, but if you actually want to do something significant, game-changing, everlasting, and impactful, here you have two pieces of advice to take into consideration.
- Diversity in your product modeling
Recently I listen to a Google Talk done by Frances W West. (Link Here) talking about human-centered technology and her main point was diversity. Understood not just hiring diversity but actually modeling products thinking about every single person.
I’m a huge admirer of entrepreneurs, but a trend that I’ve perceived lately is that some of them persist on creating products designed for a really small portion of people, either economically, financially, or even culturally.
I believe that the real challenge, besides having a product that is scalable and satisfies investors, is to create something that everyone can use and that especially people that are part of vulnerable communities can actually benefit from.
So, think about it for a second does your parents can use the product that you are designing, are you able to explain it clearly both to your grandparents and a 5-year-old?
Does a person with learning disabilities understand how to benefit from what you are creating? Does a person that comes from an unprivileged background will have the opportunity to use it?
I’m not telling you that you need to have all these answers in the first prototype, but it needs to be something that is constantly revolving around your mind.
How to solve it? Well, you can start by understanding and including diversity in the focus groups that helps you validate your idea or solution, and from there making sure that is a priority for you and the people that work around you.
2. Make nontechnical people part of the conversations
There is a certain magic in being a not technical person in a high tech environment and is that on one side, everything is amazing, surprising, and inspiring, the day-to-day job becomes fascinating.
I love to see the smile and attitude of these genius engineers when they are trying to explain to me or to anyone something that for them is basic but that for us is incredible.
On the other hand, you can always bring a fresh perspective, this means that for complicated problems you can bring a new point of view that hasn’t been considered, either because probably is “too basic” or because it has no direct relation, and that can lead to innovative solutions for any team.
So, this one goes for you, my dear technical people out there. If you are stuck on a problem or just not feeling good that day about your work, yourself, or your project. Try to talk with an artist, with a social studies professor, have a coffee with the Human resources guy, call your mom, and discuss with her the problem. Believe me, it will make a change.
And this is also true on the big scale, If your start-up, project crew, company, or whatever feels stuck or is not working properly, there is a big chance that when trying to get the big picture, you are missing something that is just an outsider can help you see.
Unfortunately, our education systems are pretty silo-oriented and from what I know that is one of the weaknesses of engineers, data scientists, and even business professionals. And is that we are not taught to see problems as complex as they are but as technical obstacles to be solved. Therefore, we end up ignoring social realities that drastically affect the way that we even gather or generate data. (Especially risky when talking about AI).
So don’t be afraid to go to uncommon sources for answers, they will not just bring you a fresh perspective and be fascinated by what you do but they can also help you identify things that not even the most experienced person in your company is able to see, not even you.
