FROM DFV TO DFVSRI

A: “The three factors of innovative design in the design thinking framework, i.e., User Desirability, Technical Feasibility, Business Viability, are quite frequently used in guiding design work and evaluating design proposals. What do they really mean?”

B: “Desirability, Feasibility, and Viability (DFV) has been a useful guide for many years in design practices as well as in design research. Desirability means the needs and wants of the users and stakeholders (customer voices). Depending on the context and nature of the design, Desirability can include functionality and usability, aesthetics and style, fidelity and reliability, ergonomics or human factors, productivity and efficiency, etc. Feasibility denotes that the design is practicably implementable, producible and manufacturable, etc., with respect to the availability of technology, materials, and other resources such as time and funding. Viability means market availability, marketability of products and services when compared to competitions, potential profitability, etc. When a design concept or proposal has been evaluated to satisfy the criteria of DFV, then it is deemed a potential candidate for design innovation.”

A: “This DFV framework was first developed decades ago. Do you think it needs some refinement or major revision?”

B: “Yes. With the rapid technological, social, economic, and political development and changes in recent years, there is certainly a need to re-look at whether DFV is adequate as a measurement for an innovative design. Rising issues such as climate change, extreme weather, cyber-attack, misinformation, disinformation, scams through digital and cyber channels, impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), rapid pace of digitalization including digital banking and cashless payment, and emerging technology like quantum computing, etc., require some new factors as far as innovation and innovative design are concerned.”

A: “What do you think are the most important areas we should add to DFV?”

B: “I think we should include Sustainability, Robustness, and Inclusiveness. Climate change and extreme weather, which we have seen in many parts of the world in recent years, implies Sustainability (Environmentally, Economically, Socially), is necessary for an innovative design. Robustness means an innovative design should address potential cyber-attack, misinformation, disinformation, and scams, through some kinds of detection, prevention, and remediation methods and tools in the design or through a linked system, to make the design as secured as possible to such potential threats.”

A: “It is interesting that you mentioned Inclusiveness. Isn’t Inclusiveness already important in DFV?”

B: “Inclusiveness has always been a delicate area. From the perspective of ethics and virtues, we want to believe that “people are born equal” or even “people are equal”. However, like other animals, “competition” and therefore "I want to be better than others” are our instinct, consciously and unconsciously. Practice Inclusiveness all the time, or even most of the time, is a challenge to many people. Nonetheless, we must not let lacking in Inclusiveness to cause increasingly bigger inequality and divide in a society, in a country, and in the world.”

A: “Can you explain that in more details?”

B: “While technological advancement such as Internet, email, e-commerce, free AI tools, etc., does reduce the inequality and enhance Inclusiveness within communities and people who have access to these tools, there are certain segments of the society who have difficulties in catching up and adopting these new technologies. Examples are people and small and medium enterprises (SME) in less developed countries, senior citizens, low-income workers, etc., and they are potentially being left further and further behind when compared with those who have access to the new technologies. Another example is an indication of shift towards Exclusiveness instead of Inclusiveness – something that is called the ‘Express Lane Syndrome’.”

A: “Express Lane Syndrome? What is it?”

B: “Not long ago, a friend of mine shared with me what he experienced when he was taking a cable car to a mountain nature park with his family. This was his second taking a cable car to the mountain. His first visit was more than a decade ago. In that first visit, there was only one queue at the cable car station waiting system, and so everyone waited patiently for his or her turn to board the next available cable car. In his recent second visit, while he was queueing with behind a long queue, he noted there was another queue line next to the one he was queueing. At first, this second queue line was empty, then groups of people started to walk into the second queue line, and they moved fast to the front and boarded the available cable car faster than those in the first queue line which he was queueing. When he asked one of the cable car company wardens on duty about the second queue line, the warden said that it was the ‘Express Lane’, and anyone who were willing to pay double of the fee of that for the first queue line could join the second queue line. And at the front, when a cable car arrived, seventy percent of the seats in the cable car would be for people in the “Express Lane” and the remaining thirty percent for people in the first queue line or the ‘Normal Lane’.”

A: “Is that system like the ‘Economy Class’ seats, versus the ‘First Class’ or ‘Business Class’ seats by airlines?”

B: “On the surface, they may look similar. However, they are different in practice. In the cable car queueing case, my friend was queueing at the ‘Normal Lane’. When he was near the front of the queue and was expecting to reach the top of the mountain in half an hour’s time to meet his family members there, a few groups of people joined the ‘Empress Lane’, and because of the seventy-percent-Empress-Lane-and-thirty-percent-Normal-Lane allocation of seats, he had to wait for much longer time to board the cable car, and that took him almost one-and-a-half hour to reach the mountain-top station. He was very disappointed and furious of the ‘Empress Lane’ system introduced by the cable car company.”

A: “Don’t people have to pay more for ‘First Class’ or ‘Business Class’ seats as compared to ‘Economy Class’ seats as well?”

B: “Yes, but in a flight, with an ‘Economy Class’ ticket, you already booked your seat in advance and therefore you are guaranteed the seat when you board the plane. Most importantly, you know that you will reach your destination at the time as indicated by the airline and will not miss your appointment at the destination airport and city. In the cable car queueing system, if you are at the ‘Normal Lane’, and are near the front, an increase of people in the ‘Express Lane’ will cause you delay and to miss your appointment at the destination.”

A: “I heard that such an ‘Express Lane’ system has also been implemented in places like some theme park rides, restaurants, and even hotels.”

B: “The Express Lane Syndrome apparently has grown in many segments in the commercial world. My friend lamented that the syndrome was a signal that increased inequality in income, access to resources, technology, etc., needs to be addressed, regionally and globally. That is, the rich and haves are taking advantage of the poor and have-nots in ‘Empress Lane’ systems.”

A: “Better Inclusiveness is clearly necessary.”

B: “Yes, Inclusiveness is an important criterion. On one hand, we appreciate many inclusive designs that have been implemented for the people with special needs, such as reserved parking lots and slopes at entrance to buildings of the wheelchair bound. On the other hand, we observe an increase of Express Lane Syndrome type of designs in systems, products and services that can potentially cause increased divisions in communities and societies.

A: “Is there any solution to the long-queue problems faced in cable car, theme parks rides, etc.?”

B: “Yes, I visited some restaurants with a queueing app system, with which all customers could first register and get a queue number, and the customers were informed of the number of groups in front of them in the queue. The customers could then go somewhere such as visiting shops, etc., while waiting for their turn. Five minutes before their tables were ready, the app would send the customers a message to proceed to the restaurant. It was an excellent system, fair and inclusive to all customers.”

A: “If the cable car and theme park companies were to introduce such queueing app systems, wouldn’t that reduce their profit margin since the ‘Empress Lane’ apparently could bring in more revenues for them?”

B: “That is a key question. It is like asking whether the Empress Lane Syndrome highlights or accentuates the need to re-look at whether the original ideals of Capitalism are still achievable or not. That is, money should not be used to create undue inequality and reduce Inclusiveness.”

A: “So, whether one is a millionaire, billionaire, or an ordinary folk, he or she should patiently queue at the only cable car queue line, the only theme park ride queue line, the restaurant queue line, etc., and cyber and digital tools such as queueing apps can help to achieve better Inclusiveness.”

B: “Absolutely. the move from DFV (Desirability, Feasibility, Viability) to DFVSRI (Desirability, Feasibility, Viability, Sustainability, Robustness, and Inclusiveness) is an urgent endeavour.”