An old fisherman had grown too old to mend his own nets. He asked his son to help him with this task.
“Father, your nets are fine” his son said. “You don’t need my help”.
The old fisherman continued to fish with his failing nets, until at last the material gave out and he returned with no fish. He went to the village and asked for someone to help him with his nets.
“you don’t need a net” said one of the villagers. “You need a better boat.”
So the old fisherman spent his remaining money on a new boat. It was slightly bigger, slightly newer, but not much different than his old boat. But still, he returned from his day with no fish.
At last, the fisherman returned to the village, desperately looking for help with his fishing.
“I will trade your new boat for this fishing spear” said one of the men in the market. “This will help you fish.”
So the old man took his fishing pole down to the river. There he sat on the banks, but he was not good with a fishing spear.
People walked by on the way to market but did not notice the old man staring blankly at the water
When the reached the market, they marveled at the high price of fish.
We can manage users emotions. We can even manage their expectations.
In short, users of technology can be “handled”.
But we can never manage their needs. What they need is determined by forces outside of our control. Finding a user’s need is a key part of being a technologist.
Post a Comment