Their Experience Is Expertise Too
Listening to User Feedback as Data, Not Complaints
When we ask people about their experience with a system, we should understand what they are actually giving us.
They are not simply giving us feedback.
They are giving us user experience data.
It wasn't intuitive. The directions were hard to follow. There wasn't information available in my language. I didn't understand what would happen next.
It can be tempting to hear those statements as a list of complaints or, worse, as problems we need to explain away.
But what if we listened differently?
Instead of listening for an opportunity to defend the process, listen for an opportunity to improve it.
Because the way people interact with our systems affects the outcomes those systems produce.
If instructions are confusing, perhaps they need to be simplified. If written directions aren't working, maybe the better answer is visual. If people don't understand what happens next, perhaps we need to make the next step unmistakable. If language creates a barrier, that is information about access, not an inconvenience to work around.
Some people hear a laundry list of problems.
I see a connected web of opportunities to provide one less stressor.
The people using our systems experience things those of us designing, administering, and improving them cannot always see from inside the work.
What they are telling us is not separate from the user experience.
It is the user experience.
That knowledge has value.
Their experience is expertise, too.
