Addendum: Plot Twist in the Data Dojo
What Happened When We Actually Talked to Users… Again
Just when we thought we had it figured out.
After applying Design Thinking and putting our client’s users front and center, we sat down with a group of folks actually using the system day-to-day. We expected to validate a few assumptions and fine-tune some workflows. What we didn’t expect was a complete flip in how we were prioritizing data.
Turns out, a chunk of data we had been treating as critical for daily decision-making was, in practice, mostly used for longer-term planning. Meanwhile, the data users rely on every day — to stay efficient, respond quickly, and do their jobs — was getting less emphasis in the design process.
In other words: the data we thought was the main course was really just a side dish, and we were under-seasoning the stuff that actually fed them every day.
This is exactly why Design Thinking isn’t a one-and-done activity. Empathy isn’t a checkbox — it’s an ongoing conversation. The more we engage with real users, the more the system reflects their actual needs instead of our well-intentioned assumptions.
