{"id":38096,"date":"2019-12-23T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T13:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/premier-developer\/?p=38096"},"modified":"2019-12-19T11:14:47","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T18:14:47","slug":"5-user-centered-development-tactics-to-start-using-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/premier-developer\/5-user-centered-development-tactics-to-start-using-today\/","title":{"rendered":"5 User Centered Development Tactics to Start Using Today!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this post, Consultants Sep DiMeglio<\/a> and Taylor O\u2019Malley<\/a> propose 5 User Centered Development Tactics to Start Using Today.<\/p>\n

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With a mission to \u201cempower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more\u201d\u2014 it\u2019s increasingly important for Microsoft employees to have a conversation about User Centered Design4<\/sup> (UCD). As developers, we are building products for people to use, so we need to ensure we are putting them<\/em> at the center of it.<\/p>\n

In a world plagued with trendy buzzwords and ever-evolving tech, what do people actually mean when they talk about UCD? Below are five tips\/tactics that you can pick up and start using today to launch your customer-obsessed journey and build great products.<\/p>\n

User Research<\/h4>\n

A fundamental pillar of User-Centered (or Human-First) design\/development is simple: start off by doing some research. Dive into your target-audience and learn about their<\/em><\/strong> needs, wants, and emotional experiences. Buildout surveys, in-person questionnaires, case-studies, polls\u2014 anything can work, so long as you are learning about your end-users1<\/sup>. Create a backstory for one of your ideal-users, average-users, and agnostic-users. Explain each of their wants, needs, and common discomforts when navigating across similar products. Generating personas for your audience members helps humanize your product, and ultimately, allows you to develop more user-centric applications.<\/p>\n

Additionally, prioritize accessibility3<\/sup> from the beginning<\/strong> of your process to ensure you are developing products for everyone. There are lots of organizations nationally and internationally where you can find end-users with disabilities to give feedback through your process. By integrating people with disabilities, whenever you\u2019re talking to people without disabilities, you\u2019re automatically ensuring their perspectives will be included throughout the entire development and design process rather than tacking on accessibilities features after-the-fact. Additionally, you can check out the Accessibility 101 Video<\/a> to learn more.<\/p>\n

Rewrite Problem Statement<\/h4>\n

Have you ever heard of a new, innovative, exciting technology and thought \u201cI really want to build something with that?\u201d We\u2019ve all been there, I mean, technology is exciting! However, that may not always be the best place to start when building a product for your end-users. Before you start building, you want to have a vision that describes how your new product is going to meet the needs of your end-users, and one way to do that, is by ensuring you have a problem to solve, and understanding the impact that problem is having on your user base. Your problem statement can be your best resource for ensuring alignment while you\u2019re building your new product. Here are a few tips and tricks to think through to help you revise your problem statement:<\/p>\n