Meeting users’ needs
This section is about
Describing users’ needs
Are you comparing users’ needs to your existing solutions or what you want to build?
Building solutions to address them
These needs do not come out of nowhere. We didn’t make them up. They were gathered during surveys of large numbers of People. We analyzed the results and created the list of users’ needs below. They are prioritized in decreasing order of importance for the People. These needs may be different per country. The below needs are primarily for captured across European folks.
The typical personae is someone over 40 years old who does not live in a large city.
The font in green relates to section 3 hereunder, where we try to identify the outcomes People are after.
1. Users’ needs
For those of you familiar with agile stories, we will write the users' needs as user stories.
As a user, i would like to connect with other People to
Grow my autonomy Being more autonomous; being less dependent on the system
Food Food security; survival
Water Water security; survival
Energy - heating, cooking Survival
Thinking and knowledge Know how to do some things that bring value to ourselves
Reusing things Financial independence
Trading method Financial independence
Value storage Financial independence
Access to quality information Informed decisions
Share Being supported; support other People;
Knowledge, practical pieces of advice and methods, solutions Know how to do some things that create value for ourselves
Local resources, food surplus
Services, competences
Help & support each other physically and mentally Feeling of being in a safer environment
Build bonds with People who have a mindset similar to mine. Create a group. Potentially live together. Being surrounded by People you trust
Go into action together. Build, co-create, experiment. Find solutions. The feeling of building something together
As a user, i would like to locate
Food resources Food security
Healthy food (fruits, vegetables, bio, no chemical products, healthy meat - no treatment -, farms, local producers) Healthy body, feeling good
Directly from producers Trust in who provide the food; safer environment; trusted environment
Affordable (relatively low price) Financial security; food security
Land available for co-cultivation Food security
Health-related resources Wellbeing; being in charge of your own health
Natural treatments (plants), alternative treatments Trust in the treatment; no negative impact of the treatment
Doctors
Specialists
People
By competences (handyman, lawyer, herbalist, craftsman, education, cultivating, autonomy)
Group of People Being part of a group; the survival instinct of being inside a group of People
Mutual help
Autonomy
Water resources Water security
Sources
Fountains
Recycling rainwater
Places
Sharing spot (a place where resources such as food and competencies can be traded) Trusted services
To learn / to train Being able to do more by yourself
Eco-place
Sport Improve wellbeing
As a user, i would like to access and share information around
Autonomy Being more autonomous; being less dependent on the system
Cultivation
Health
Resources
2. Comparing users’ needs to your existing solutions or to what you want to build
Considering the list of needs above, it is interesting to look at existing solutions. How well do existing solutions respond to users’ needs?
I won’t do this exercise because it is not my job to do it. It needs to be done by the People who have created or started groups or networks or are thinking of creating something. These folks need to ask themselves the below questions. We also need to factor in that People in existing groups may have different needs because their context may differ (no food shortage constraint, for instance).
Do i know the People inside my group well?
I have talked to People who run networks of 50,000+ People who are not even interested in knowing what the folks inside the group need. How insane is this? I won’t name People here, but you know who you are. The People inside your groups would be amazed that you are not interested in knowing what they need. It does not take much effort to run surveys to ask. It’s okay to ask People. There is no shame or weakness in asking questions. It is okay not to know what People precisely need. But it is not okay to assume what they need when you have not personally talked to them.
Do the solution(s) we have in place in the group or the network align with what People need?
We will expect more than a simple “yes” to this question. If the answer is “yes,” then prove it to us. Based on what pieces of evidence, preferably measurable, can you state that the solution(s) in place in the group or the network addresses the needs of the People? We run quarterly feedback surveys, and 60% of respondents fill them out. These surveys have questions related to autonomy and the level of autonomy that you currently have regarding food, water, thought, and healing. We clearly see an improvement in the overall level of autonomy of the People in our group. Yes, this is the kind of measurable evidence that we want to see. The “yes” is not based on what you think but on tangible evidence.
3. Building solutions
How about we try to think together of solutions to the above needs?
As mentioned on the page “The challenge of creating solutions to connect People,” Peoplelyzer is interested in gathering People who are ready to work together for the greater good.
Let’s first holistically look at what People are telling us they need, then look at the outcomes they are fundamentally trying to reach and eventually think about the best tool (or way) to support them in reaching these outcomes.
If we holistically look at the needs of the People, they need to:
Connect with People
Locate People or things
Read & share things
Fundamentally, we should look at what outcomes the People are after. “Connect,” “locate,” “read,” and “share” are not outcomes. They are tools to reach outcomes. Let’s input the outcomes People are after for each of the needs expressed. We will do this directly in the above list of needs (section 1) by using this font. If you are not okay with an outcome or the methodology, do contact us here.
We pay attention to outcomes because we don’t want to rush to build solutions. We want to develop tools that enable their users to reach the outcomes they are after. Let’s summarize the outcomes identified above and list them hereunder by decreasing importance. We will also add a column (4) to get us to think about the solution we can implement.
