On this episode of The Smart IT Podcast, I welcomed Evelina Deleanu, Head of Experience @ ChaiOne, to the show. We talked about design, end users, and experience.

In IT, we often talk about the back end of the digital infrastructure that powers business services. It is important as well to take a step back and think about the experience of the people using our systems. We need to answer the question of what users are trying to accomplish in their daily tasks as they interact with technology. Design is more than aesthetics; it is the actual experience. We discussed user experience (UX) and the entire experience with a product or service. For example, buying an Apple product, from unwrapping device, to setting it for use. Experience encompasses the entire lifecycle of interacting with the product or service. We discussed several insightful areas, including:

• When companies do not invest in experience, you have user complaints. Many digital transformation initiatives fail because they do not consider the user enough.
• Viewing the human experience holistically interacting with technology systems. The importance of designing the experience of technology for users. 
• A good experience working with a system is the result of thoughtful design. There needs to be a purposeful understanding of what users are trying to accomplish and design the technology systems to meet those needs as efficiently as possible. 
• Many users resist digital transformation initiatives and new solutions. The importance of focusing on being user centric to meet their actual work needs. If not done well, we risk lower user adoption rates and technology investments may not pay off for our businesses. 
• Part of the design process is collecting end user data using methods such as interviews, observation, and time motion studies. 

We closed out by discussing career pathing for those looking to get into design. 

LINKS:

LinkedIn - Evelina Deleanu

ADP List: https://app.adplist.org/login

Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/

Interaction Design Foundation: https://www.interaction-design.org/

LinkedIn - ChaiOne

#design #humancentereddesign #ux #experience