Depending on the situation, I do or don't listen to what people say. For really big innovations that have absolutely nothing to do with anything out there now, asking the average consumer about them isn't useful in most cases. One is better off researching trends, coming up with multiple scenarios of the future, forming hypotheses and then going into the field to substantiate or refute those based on what is happening today. Even that will not provide answers but simply point toward a more likely future scenario provided there are no great disruptions, new technologies out of left field, etc.
For near term improvements on a product/service or innovations that are near-term and resemble something which already exists, I still don't listen to what people say but rather observe what they do and try to understand their base, emotional unmet needs. Here, archetype, semiotics, ethnography is very useful. For immediate improvements to existing products/services/interfaces, I listen to what lead or extreme users have to say and I watch them to uncover new opportunity. I look for outliers - people who do things differently from everyone else and either accomplish the same thing or figure out a better way. I also listen for what people don't say and observe any workarounds. If great detail is involved, I'll suck it up and do a time-motion study...;) So I really do think your objectives or those of your client should lead one's approach. But then, there are always exceptions to every rule! ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
