Comments on: The User, king or pawn? http://lensco.be/2008/07/15/the-user-king-or-pawn/ Thoughts on web design and all that jazz Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:35:18 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Lensco http://lensco.be/2008/07/15/the-user-king-or-pawn/#comment-13 Lensco Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:26:50 +0000 http://lensco.be/?p=15#comment-13 Oh you should definitely listen to users. But as you say, never just blindly listen and abide. Sometimes the stubbornness of Apple results in wonderful products, but it also may backfire. As the company grows, people will be more and more claiming their place. Just take a look at the numerous rants in the Apple discussion boards, or <a href="http://www.subtraction.com/archives/2008/0715_no_contact_i.php" rel="nofollow">what Khoi Vinh just wrote</a>: <blockquote> [...] the company is starting to get sloppy, their ability to finesse details now compromised. </blockquote> Oh you should definitely listen to users. But as you say, never just blindly listen and abide.

Sometimes the stubbornness of Apple results in wonderful products, but it also may backfire. As the company grows, people will be more and more claiming their place. Just take a look at the numerous rants in the Apple discussion boards, or what Khoi Vinh just wrote:

[...] the company is starting to get sloppy, their ability to finesse details now compromised.

]]> By: Bart http://lensco.be/2008/07/15/the-user-king-or-pawn/#comment-12 Bart Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:40:21 +0000 http://lensco.be/?p=15#comment-12 There's a fine line of semantics here. In my opinion, you can *never* just blindly execute what the user asks you to do. That's what Pixar and Apple are preaching. But the moment you stop listening to your users, and the moment you stop building things that are not useful for a user (user-sentric thinking), that moment you're dead in the water. If your message is: don't take the user into account, then I don't agree with you. If your message is: don't blindly execute the demands for the user, then three cheers. While looking at your platform, I tend to believe you're going for the second option :) There’s a fine line of semantics here.

In my opinion, you can *never* just blindly execute what the user asks you to do. That’s what Pixar and Apple are preaching.

But the moment you stop listening to your users, and the moment you stop building things that are not useful for a user (user-sentric thinking), that moment you’re dead in the water.

If your message is: don’t take the user into account, then I don’t agree with you. If your message is: don’t blindly execute the demands for the user, then three cheers.

While looking at your platform, I tend to believe you’re going for the second option :)

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