Seminar 18A - Uncovering and Meeting Unspoken User Needs

IT projects are often driven by technical or organizational visions that are insufficiently informed by user needs, in part because they have a way of hiding and remaining invisible even to the users themselves. Yet such hidden needs can undermine project success. IT initiatives will be more successful if we understand where user needs hide and how to tease them out, as well as how to ensure that those needs drive project decisions.

This seminar will offer a toolkit of key concepts and methods, an opportunity to practice user-centered thinking through a set of interactive exercises, and a chance to apply lessons learned to current initiatives. Internalizing key concepts impacts thinking about IT staffing, project planning, service evaluation, and innovation, as well as IT's interaction with faculty, staff, and students.