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Go beyond the happy path to make sure your user’s needs are addressed
How to make sure optimism doesn’t blind you from user needs
It can be tough to be the only negative person in an overly-optimistic team, but it’s sometimes necessary to adequately capture the user’s perspective.
Whether you’re working with exciting new technology like Augmented Reality or are working on a project which you know will have huge benefits, like addressing a long-standing issue everyone hates, you may find yourself on very optimistic teams.
This can be an energizing and rewarding experience, but at the same time, it can leave you vulnerable to blind spots. For example, the team may have an idealized view of the user’s workflow (known as the “happy path”), and you might have designed for that as well.
But it would be best if you considered alternative paths users can take. There are several tough questions that you need to ask yourself, including “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Considering that much earlier in the process can save you a lot of time and effort. I found that out that hard way when a single spoken line caused my stomach to drop when user testing.
