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Quotes
My favourite quotes and wisdoms by famous designers, marketers, engineers and thinkers worth knowing about.
đź’¬ UXD Quote #5
“You don’t truly understand something until you quantified it. But you understand nothing at all if all you do is quantify.”
Unknown Author
The limitation of quantitative data is that it describes what happened but not why or how it happened. As design researchers, we should seek answers to the questions of why by talking to our customers or stakeholders.
Combining quantitative and qualitative research methods is a good rule of thumb. Remember, quantitative and qualitative methods complement one another; they are complementary, not mutually exclusive. Â
📚 Source: 101 Things I Learned® in Engineering School by John Kuprenas & Matthew Frederick
đź’¬ UXD Quote #4
“A well-designed product isn’t well designed if the process needed to manufacture it is unrealistic or uneconomical.”
Matthew Frederick
A brilliantly conceived alternative-fuel vehicle will not succeed without the design and implementation of a refuelling infrastructure over a large geographic area. A cleverly resolved construction detail isn’t clever if it doesn’t leave room for a construction worker to manipulate the tools needed to construct it. A bridge pier that’s well engineered won’t be built without also engineering a process to excavate earth and pour concrete in the middle of a river.Â
Remember, there is often design besides the design and a well-designed product isn’t well designed if the process needed to manufacture it is unrealistic or uneconomical.
📚 Source: 101 Things I Learned® in Engineering School by John Kuprenas & Matthew Frederick
đź’¬ UXD Quote #3
“Customer service is where actual, individual human needs and expectations crash headfirst into reality.”
Erika Hall
My favourite shortcut to “first-hand” insights from customers is talking to customer-support frontline workers. If you’re looking for great research insights, and don’t have budget for talking to your customers directly, try talking to your customer support teams who directly deals with customer issues. If a customer needed to reach out to your support team it’s a great indicator of an opportunity that exists in your product.
đź“š Source: Just Enough Research by Erika Hall
đź’¬ UXD Quote #2
“Strategy is not a lengthy action plan. It is the evolution of a central idea through continually changing circumstances.”
Jack Welch, General Electric’s reforming ex-CEO
Inspired by writings of Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian chief-of-staff at Waterloo, who in his book On War successfully distilled Napoleon into theory. Clausewitz’s approach to strategy was descriptive rather than prescriptive.
Men cannot reduce strategy to a formula. Some of our plans will necessarily fail, due to the inevitable frictions: chance events, imperfections in execution, and the independent will of the opposition. That’s why having a sound strategy as a beacon driving our decisions is essential, serving as the evolution of a central idea through continually changing circumstances.
đź“š Source: On War by Carl von Clausewitz
đź’¬ UXD Quote #1
“All it takes to turn potential hindsight into happy foresight is keeping your eyes open and asking the right questions. Failing isn’t the only way to learn.”
Erika Hall
Data can be inaccurate and misleading. It is better to assume that not all data you get is always 100% accurate. And also be aware of the possibility of biased interpretation of your data. Data can often be intentionally skewed by those presenting it to us.
đź“š Source: Just Enough Research by Erika Hall