[Sigia-l] D. Norman: "HCD harmful? A Clarification"

[Listera]

I had posted a link to a Don Norman piece on UCD vs. HCD sometime ago. Don
clarifies his earlier comments:

There has been far too much emphasis on individual people, trying to model
them, trying to build fascinating scenarios and "personas." I think much of
this work misplaced, irrelevant, and potentially harmful if it diverts the
limited time and resources of the design team away from matters that can
actually help.

Are Scenarios and Personas worthless?> No, scenarios are great for
marketing. Personas are great for communication: see my essay "Ad-Hoc
Personas & Empathetic Focus". But for great design, design for the activity.

Design for the activity and the rest will take care of itself, better than
the reverse ‹ design for the person, without proper support for the
activity.

<http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/hcd_harmful_a_clari.html>

---- 
Ziya

Best Practices,
For when you've run out of your own ideas and context.