The X-Mentor | Freedom

Issue #12

The Secret: Creativity is connected to Freedom.

The Source: Fundamental Human Needs. Upon closer examination of the Matrix of Needs and Satisfiers, you’ll notice several overlapping aspects. For example, the fundamental human need of Creation shares some of the same satisfiers as the need for Freedom. Common satisfiers include passion, determination, boldness, autonomy, and temporal freedom.

What It Means: Creativity requires time and space to think and reflect.

People need free time and autonomy to think creatively and innovate decisively.

For example: Software development methodologies such as agile are often at odds with creating great user experiences. That’s because most agile practices are time-crunched, feature focused, and primarily concerned with shipping small increments of functional code. The pace of product development is unrelenting, and time is “boxed” into sprints that are streamlined by scrum masters.

The Key Question is: What Should We Build?

Product Design answers this question with Research.

Yet, often, agile Engineering answers this question with Iteration.

Thus, if not managed correctly, iteration without deep human insight will put agile teams at odds with creating complete experiences that delight users.

Why It Matters

Designing (UX) is about satisfying user needs, specifically, these underlying fundamental human needs in context of a user’s work and their life.

Good designs emerge from the best understanding of a person's needs.

Bad designs emerge from code that’s not connected to human needs.