“Human-centered design is an approach to innovation in which user research drives design decisions by providing an understanding of end users. In practice, different people, teams, or even companies manage each step of the design process, making communication of user research results a critical activity. Based on an empirical study of current methods used by experts, this paper presents strategies for effectively communicating user research findings across organizational or corporate boundaries. To build researcher-client relationships, understand both user and client needs, and overcome institutional inertia, this paper proposes viewing user research clients as users of user research outcomes. This reframing the crafting of communication across boundaries as a parallel internal human-centered design process we refer to as a double ethnography.”
Roschuni, C., Goodman, E. and Agogino, A. 2013. Communicating Actionable User Research. Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing. Pre-publication draft available here.