In OSS implementations, visit the jungle, not the zoo

jungle OSS
Image credit: Jacek Sledzinski | shutterstock.com

There’s the famous quote that if you want to understand how animals live, you don’t go to the zoo, you go to the jungle. The Future Lab has really pioneered that within Lego, and it hasn’t been a theoretical exercise. It’s been a real design-thinking approach to innovation, which we’ve learned an awful lot from.”
Jorgen Vig Knudstorp.

This quote prompted me to ask the question – how many times during OSS implementations had I sought to understand user behaviour at the zoo versus the jungle?

By that, how many times had I simply spoken with the user’s representative on the project team rather than directly with end users? What about the less obvious personas as discussed in this earlier post about user personas?

Had I visited the jungles where internal stakeholders like project sponsors, executives, data consumers, etc. or external stakeholders such as end-customers, regulatory bodies, etc go about their daily lives?

I can truthfully, but regretfully, say I’ve spent far more time at OSS zoos than in jungles. This is something I need to redress.

But, at least I can claim to have spent most time in customer-facing roles.

Too many of the product development teams I’ve worked closely with don’t even visit OSS zoos let alone jungles in any given year. They never get close to observing real customers in their native environments.

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