The Elastic User

Although satisfying the user is our goal, the term "user" causes trouble. Its imprecision makes it as unusable as a chainsaw is for removing someone's appendix. We need a more precise design tool.

Whenever I hear the phrase "the user," it sounds to me like "the elastic user." The elastic user must bend and stretch and adapt to the needs of the moment. However, our goal is to design software that will bend and stretch and adapt to the user's needs. Programmers have written countless programs for this mythical elastic consumer, but he simply doesn't exist. When the programmer finds it convenient to dump the user into the Windows file system to find the information she needs, he defines the elastic user as an accommodating, computer-literate power user. Other times, when the programmer finds it convenient to step the user through a difficult process with a mindless wizard, he defines the elastic user as an obliging, naïve, first-time user. Designing for the elastic user gives the developer license to code as he pleases while paying lip service to "the user." Real users are not elastic.

Programmers have an expressive taxonomy for describing the construction of software. Good programmers don't toss around gross generalizations about different computers and systems. A programmer would never say, "This will run well on a computer." Which computer? Which model? What operating system? What peripherals? Similarly, designers must never be so vague as to say their program "is designed for the user," or that "it will be user friendly." If you hear someone speaking like that, it is likely a way to justify the imposition of his own self-interest instead.

In our design process, we never refer to "the user." Instead, we refer to a very specific individual: a persona.