Anthroguy at Microsoft
On Nov. 23, I (meaning Anthroguy, aka Hank Delcore) visited the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA, to give a talk and do some knowledge exchange with colleagues in user experience and product planning.  Nelle Steele, an old friend from grad school in Madison, WI, facilitated the visit.  Nelle works on a user research team associated with Microsoft Office, obviously a massive MS division.  It was fascinating getting an inside look at MS workspaces, organization and work style. Being Thanksgiving week, many people were gone and others who had planned to come excused themselves due to looming deadlines.  (Jonathan G

Analytic Induction and the Imposition of Truth
This posting was motivated by the following quotation I found in my in box this morning: I like not to know for as long as possible because then it tells me the truth instead of me imposing the truth. Michael Moschen TheAnthroGuys spend a great deal of time trying to use and teach the use and limits of analytic induction.  This is more than just a curricular obje

Hit Rate and Anthropology
Greeting from Chicago, where I (Anthroguy) am attending the CEO Conference with some colleagues and students from Fresno State. What does anthropology have to do with the market “hit rate” for new innovations?  Blogger and design anthropologist Eva G:dotter Jansson answers this question nicely in a recent blog posting.  Jansson makes an extended argument for the value of design anthropology and ethnographic user experience research for increasing innovation hit rates in t

Can’t You Just Ask People?
Recently, I spoke to a locally respected and experienced business advisor about the process of learning about consumer needs.  I said that I thought you can’t simply ask people what they want because most people can’t articulate – at least not in a verbal Q&A context – a clear vision of future products and services.  He said, “Hank, I’m gonna have to disagree with you on that.”  He went on to describe how he had once complained to his wife about a glaring blind spot in consumer electronics – a spot that was in fact filled years later. These kinds of consumer anticipations certainly happen, but they tend to fall into a few categories.  Sometimes,