People challenge social and cultural boundaries in unexpected ways

“When we’re trying to understand our ‘users’ and ‘customers,’ we have to remember that they’re people just like us, and just like us they regularly cross understood boundaries and categories… People are inconsistent, often inarticulate, and they challenge social and cultural boundaries in unexpected ways.” – Subject to Change by Peter Merholz, Brandon Schauer, David Verba, and Todd Wilkens

Subject to Change by four great folks at Adaptive Path is a fabulous look at customer experience and how focusing on it can transform companies. I highly recommend it!

1. Go deep into your customers’ lives and immerse yourself in their world
2. Designers must consider unseen elements such as social relationships, power dynamics, and cultural rules
3. Interaction design finds ways to better connect people
4. Your customers are not you
5. Better connect with your customers by speaking like people, not like machines