UCD.

I wish I was a brilliant innovator, capable of coming up with the next "greatest thing". Not for any other reason than to feel the rush of walking down the street and looking in the window of a store that can't keep up with the orders for my next "greatest thing". Truth is that doesn't happen very often and the image of the lone innovator, charismatic as that image may be, turns out to be companies that use an old 80's phrase of UCD ( user centered design ) to come up with the next "greatest thing". Companies that have individual innovators come up with ideas and initiatives without customer insight don't tend to last the test of time.

It doesn't have to be the banal customer forums in a green room with one way mirrors but companies do need to build user empathy with their customers over the products they use. Either that or companies become very good at being end users of their own products. Consider ski and surf manufacturers who find their staff missing on big surf days or powder snow fall days, out using equipement they build for their customers. Even Mr Jobs is an end user of his products along with all his Apple acolytes who are then able to continually push the innovation envelope. Such companies end up as their own target market and are then able to use that to foster innovation from within.

Either way, the lone wolf innovator slash guru, intuitively coming up with the great "aha" moment has long made way for succinct user research, internal and external. The lone wolf example, too often resulted in products labeled with the "works as designed" label ending up in the discount bin because no one ever bought the product because it lacked relevance and usability for the end user without that all important research. The empathy gained from UCD, that companies build with their customers, becomes a powerful tool for innovation as they gain insight into what really drives emotional buying and engagement thinking in their customers. It's certainly not the two page questionaire asking for feedback. Tools that come from building that empathetic bridge with company customers gives real understanding of their needs which then gives rise to relevant products that stand the test of time.

This research will have companies walking the proverbial mile in their customer's shoes and really finding out if the shoes are as comfortable as they thought. Researchers for the truly innovative companies become different people through this process and find, without that change, any innovation is likely to be more guess than success. The companies that internalise the research and become end users of their products also end up the most successful. True user-centered innovators are available to any company that makes empathy a top priority.

If your company makes something or is looking for the next "greatest thing", consider the last time you set out to truly find what your customer wanted?