Innovation for innovation's sake

Transcript for a presentation I did on 'My key takeaways from the 2018 UX Australia Conference.'

At the conference, many speakers from the event dissected and unpacked many of the products, methods and technologies widely used today, and for me, the conversations about how often innovation is done for innovation’s sake really struck a cord for me.

While companies and innovators may have started with the noble intention to improve users lives, somewhere along the way, important user groups become forgotten and innovation becomes the end, rather than the means to an end. For me, I define that ‘end' as a sustainable positive user experience that is considerate of long-term impact, social and ethical implications.

There are so many reasons and factors that are being used to justify the trade-offs and compromises, but this piece won’t be a critique on those reasons nor will I delve into them. At the end of the day, I truly believe that most people believe they are doing what’s best based on their own perspective. It’s simply being human.

What I will do is begin this discourse by scratching the surface and sharing some good and bad examples of innovation and then a consideration on how might we move forward and create better technologies for all. 

Good Examples

Typewriter, telephone and punch card - are some examples of good innovation. Why? While they were designed for people with a specific disability, they also inadvertently helped a whole lot more people.

What is the relevance of this? Microsoft’s Inclusive guide talks about this idea of ‘solve for one to extend to many’. It’s this idea that if we create an experience around say a person with one arm, the solution would benefit a person in a temporary wrist injury or even a parent with holding a baby. According to Alan Cooper, the father of UX, as tech practitioners we have a responsibility to create inclusive experiences and technologies that have positive long term considerations. We should be 'good ancestors'.

Not-so-good Examples

We often work in projects that have demanding deadlines and we race against time to keep up with quick advancements of technology. We know that rushing can be detrimental to the quality of the solution. And so, we must be conscious in keeping ahead of the game by being mindful of the long term impacts. The Commbank Albert EFTPOS tablet is a mobile device that allows payments to be made at the table or anywhere in store, it’s touch screen, enable groups to easily split bills, and has a point-of-sale integration that removes manual reconciliation. The rollout of these had proved to be a ‘good’ step in the innovative direction. However, while innovative, the devices neglect a large portion of users, specifically vision impaired users. A lawsuit was on the table based on the evidence that the devices were found to be impossible for them to use because of the tactile keyboard. While this was 100% compliant with web accessibility standards, the physical experience was overlooked.

Conclusion It is evident that designing for one acute problem could solve for a lot of other people whose problems aren’t immediate. Let’s solve for one, so that our products and services can include and extend to many.