The perils of Anecdata

2 Responses to “The perils of Anecdata”

Ben Buchanan on May 11th, 2007 at 12:00 am

I’ve had this problem in the past although I’d have to admit I’ve fallen into the trap as well. Occasionally I’ve been caught saying “people hate x” without having data to back it up.

The only real solution at Griffith was to slowly nurture a culter of user-centred design; getting everyone (including me) used to the idea that we should go to the users with our questions. Over time that took hold, although it wasn’t easy and human nature still turns up at times.

Plus, ultimately there are times when the client will simply insist that they are right. They are the most influential user and sometimes they pull rank. Not much you can do about that, really.

Cheryl on May 17th, 2007 at 4:13 pm

Ben - you’re right, and I’ve been guilty of it in the past as well.

Interestingly, when I was working at Virgin Money I was the client. I was working with Sophie Gem (who’s now at News Digital Media) as she was the IA on our project. I disagreed with her on one point of the wireframes and tried to pull rank by saying that I was the client and that’s what we wanted.

She firmly believed that she was right and really stood her ground, even though I was the client.

Of course, it turned out that she was right in the end. :)

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