Human-Centered Design is Simple Respect

As students at Heinz it's going to be easy to think and feel as though our admission to such a prestigious institution and the high quality of the faculty and courses (not to mention the, uhhh, "exceptional" cost of attending) means that our ideas and endeavors will also be universally of such high quality. More simply put, we'll be tempted to fall into the thinking that our degree means that our solutions to the world's problems are the best. I mean, what would the point of attending Heinz be if it didn't make us the most qualified to do the job, right?

When framed this way it's pretty easy to dismiss such a mindset as arrogant, out of touch (both true), and most importantly not us. And yet when we look at our society's approach to work and problem-solving, we can see that this mindset is in fact the cultural norm, be it the doctor that prescribes a treatment regimen that would lay up a single, working mother for weeks, the teacher that insists on vocal participation in group projects for an autistic student, or the loan officer that hands out subprime mortgages left and right. In each of these examples, and countless beyond, the "most qualified" assumed they had the best answer, with damaging results for those subject to it.

Human-centered design challenges us to think about our degree, and more broadly our approach to the world's problems, not as experts with the best answers but rather as partners equipped with good questions and the tools to help evaluate the responses.

Consider the Family Independence Initiative. In line with the thinking of the Positive Deviance Initiative, this organization approaches solutions design with the belief that assets and the best answers lie with the individuals and communities at the heart of the problems in question. For example, what's the best way for a particular family to get out of a cycle of poverty? Ask that family...and then partner with them in designing support, capital, and feedback mechanisms to assist in actualizing their answer. As results from the projects of both of the organizations above show, this design approach is more effective, efficient, and sustainable than traditional "expert-centered" solutions.

And more importantly, human-centered design is simple respect. There is a moral dimension to everything we do, and in this area we have the choice of either following the traditional path of problem-solving that typically disempowers the already disadvantaged in favor of short-term fixes OR we can collaborate in a way that prioritizes and respects the dignity, ingenuity, and expertise of people who have the most to gain (and lose) in solving the problems we're targeting.

As the global community becomes increasingly interconnected, resulting in our previously siloed political, economic, cultural, and social systems being probed, challenged, and potentially shaped by increasingly diverse human experiences, we have the opportunity to approach change both effectively AND respectfully. What good would this fancy degree be if we passed on that?