How can user research help you create better functional specifications?

2 Validate assumptions

User research also helps you validate or invalidate your assumptions about your users and your product or system. By testing your prototypes, mockups, or concepts with real or potential users, you can get feedback on whether your design meets their needs and expectations. You can also discover any gaps, errors, or flaws in your design that might affect the functionality, usability, or desirability of your product or system. This way, you can refine and improve your functional specifications based on user data and evidence.

3 Align stakeholders

User research also helps you align your stakeholders on the project vision and goals. By involving your clients, sponsors, managers, or other decision-makers in the user research process, you can share your findings and insights with them. You can also demonstrate how your design decisions are based on user needs and feedback. This way, you can build trust, consensus, and support for your functional specifications among your stakeholders.

4 Communicate clearly

User research also helps you communicate your functional specifications clearly and effectively. By using user research methods and tools, you can create personas, scenarios, user stories, or other artifacts that illustrate your user needs and requirements. You can also use diagrams, sketches, wireframes, or other visuals that show your design features and behaviors. These artifacts can help you explain and justify your functional specifications to your engineers, developers, and stakeholders in a user-centered and understandable way.

5 Enhance quality

User research also helps you enhance the quality of your functional specifications and your product or system. By conducting user research throughout the design process, you can ensure that your functional specifications are aligned with your user needs and feedback. You can also monitor and evaluate the performance, usability, and satisfaction of your product or system with your users. This way, you can identify and resolve any issues, bugs, or defects that might affect the functionality, quality, or value of your product or system.

User research is a powerful tool that can help you create better functional specifications for your engineering design projects. By understanding, validating, aligning, communicating, and enhancing your functional specifications based on user needs and feedback, you can deliver products or systems that meet or exceed your user expectations and goals.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?