Page 74 - The Design Thinking Playbook

Priya wants to test the prototype in an environment of seniors and
pays a visit to the “Shady Pine Tree” retirement home. In the dining
room, she meets Anna: 70 years old, fit mentally, using a wheelchair
due to a stroke, which has prompted her to move from her townhouse
to the retirement home. Priya confronts Anna with the prototype of
her ImedHeinz smartphone. Anna’s response is a horrified look. To
excite a little enthusiasm in Anna, Priya shows her, quite euphorically,
how quickly the data from the blood pressure measuring device can
be transmitted to the Heinz. Anna does not show any enthusiasm
whatsoever.
This brings Priya down to earth somewhat; she leans back in her
chair, and her gaze wanders to the other seniors in the dining room.
Richard, sitting at the back of the room, is playing chess on his tablet;
Elizabeth is exchanging WhatsApp messages with her grandson in
New York City on an iPhone. Anna takes Priya’s hand and says she is
a great iPhone fan, too, and that she is looking forward to her new,
gilded iPhone that would match her jewelry so well.
Priya has learned a lot this afternoon. The basic prerequisite for
empathetic needfinding is the immediate proximity to the customers
(seniors) as well as the readiness to engage with your interlocutor
and to try to experience the world through another person’s eyes. It
takes courage and strength to step back from known standards and
views of the world—but without it, needfinding and the empathy with
a potential user it requires can hardly take place.

73