CAD Manager – Think Like a User

“User” is such a harsh sounding term, but that is the most common term for those that are the “hands on practitioners” with the software we support.

Thinking like a User is something that may have slipped away from you as you move farther from the day to day workings of the tools and into managing the tools.  Thinking like a User helps you retain that – get it done – got to have it now – kind of attitude that Users have.  If we move to far away from that, we will end up adding their concerns to the bottom of our “to do” list instead of the top.

Thinking like a User means keeping the mind frame that they have.  Thinking their thoughts.  Fitting into their shoes.  Most of us have come from a hands on background and so we know what they think.  But in the progress that we make on a higher plane of Managing and not Using the software we may become ambivalent to the needs of those who need us most.

I am going to explore this concept in the next few blog posts.  How do Users think?  What do they need?  When do they need it?  I am not going to just provide the standard answers – like “I need it now!” but will delve deeper into the perspectives and pressures that they have in getting things done.

So stay tuned…