users

That is such a bad term for people who use computer software to help them get their job done. Sounds like a drug addict, who uses drugs to try to alleviate pain in their life. What a second, that does match. Computers are painful to use and most software does not really help; software just softens to emotional distress of sitting in front of a computer all day. Working with computers can definitely make a manual task automated, but there is so much more we can help our customers than what we are doing today.

I much say that I really enjoy visiting customers and observing them do their daily tasks. It reminds me of one of my previous jobs, where I did this daily. The technical term is contextual inquiry for shadowing a customer in their daily work environment. The more you observe and collect notes, the better you will understand exactly what problems and tasks they are trying to complete daily. Another favorite of mine is called task analysis where you try to understand the tasks and come up with a better or automated flow to help them do the task quicker or eliminate it altogether. For me, there is just no better way to learn about your customer than seeing them in action. Even though this was but a single day in my life, it was totally worth every minute. It also reminded me that I enjoy doing it and it was part of my life for two years. I need to incorporate it more into my life!