Your developers use your app more than anyone in the world

“You’re a power user.” “Most people don’t use computers like you do.”

How many times have you heard someone say this? If you’re a developer, probably a lot. I usually heard it when I was giving feedback on the design or UX of an app. It’s easy to dismiss the feedback of a developer. We’re weird people. Lots of us spend our time fighting to use computers like they did in the 1980s. Should that make our feedback any less valuable?

NO!

If you want to find the pain points of an app, ask the team developing it. The developers and testers use the app more than any other person on the planet. They know what parts of the app are slow and they know which parts of the app they’re afraid to use because they just don’t know how something will behave.

I’m not trying to say that developers are all UX experts. We’re not. I’m just trying to get people to stop immediately dismissing our feedback and really listen to what we’re saying. I’m also not saying that you shouldn’t get other people to look at your app. A fresh  set of eyes is absolutely crucial to making something usable.

So stop telling us we don’t know what we’re talking about. Stop telling us we’re so different. Listen to us.

If your managers or designers aren’t so enlightened, there are still ways to give good feedback. It’s all about context. Give your feedback from the point of view of your “regular” users. You should try and develop personas for your team. Personas are basically an abstract person that represents the different kinds of users of your app. It’s a GREAT way to have a common language for giving feedback. So instead of saying “I think this would be better because it solves this problem I have” say “Susan the soccer mom would learn this faster if something catered to her needs better.”