How to involve the Customer/User in a Internet Service Design Process?
It’s obvious that we should involve the customer or the user(s) in the process of developing a new service for the Internet. That should be for the whole life-cycle of the development process – from the beginning to the end. I started trying to figure this out some months ago and was surprised how little seems to be done in this arena right now.
That applies for both the B2B and B2C services. One might argue that it is already done, however. Aren’t the consultants of big IT companies spending hundreds (if not thousands) of hours talking to the customer (and billing for it) – making sure that the requirements are understood? Don’t we have the “beta” process for a web 2.0 sites where users can give feedback and influence the future development?
Yes. And no.
First of all, the B2B processes are in many cases extremely ineffective. Or at… Continue reading