How to Utilize the AEIOU Design Methodology for Customer-Centric Software
In today’s world where everyone is connected via the internet and digital space, business dealings are primarily done online. A company’s website or its applications are normally used by the customers to access services. In such an environment, special care must be given to design software, APIs, and websites. Companies and businesses must understand a client’s needs while planning the architecture, design of the software, and the end user experience. A way of doing so involves gathering the opinions and demands of a group of people in order to obtain ideas from the clients themselves. An effective method to do is utilizing the AEIOU Design Methodology.
What is AEIOU Design Methodology?
The AEIOU Design Methodology is a technique employed by the industry that uses ethnographic means to gather data. The data is later combined based on a coding guide. This will ultimately lead to forming models to address any issues a client might have. The guide to code the data is built upon the words that make AEIOU. These are:
· Activities: Essentially adheres to the rigors people go through in order to reach their goals in development.
· Environment: Is the place where the aforementioned activities take place. The role of the environment on users is essential for study as well.
· Interactions: Interactions between people and facets of your software or whatever application you are designing for. Studying their effects on the activities is key.
· Objects: The details that form the environment. It is necessary to study their dynamic with activities.
· Users: The individuals being observed. Their personalities as well as their social dynamics should be studied.
These are the guidelines employed while sorting data.
The Process
Data is gathered using ethnographic methods, and is then sorted into the different headings based on the AEIOU codes. Observations are formed and are later clustered and grouped to make them clearer.
How the AEIOU Design Methodology is Useful
The AEIOU framework is very useful for gathering data in order to resolve issues. What makes it unique is how detailed and multifaceted it is. Not only does it account for an individual’s personal thoughts and activities, it also takes into consideration the surroundings, especially how the individual under observation behaves in relation to their surroundings. It also takes into account how other individuals and objects in the surroundings affect the subject’s activities. It is a fairly thorough and exhaustive method of research that includes nearly every aspect of data possible to gather. Resolving a client’s issue can be done with every minute detail taken into account. Hence, it is one of the most effective methods to gather data in order to design customer-centric software.
An example of its use can be found in the commercial real estate market. A real estate firm might be looking to launch fintech services using SaaS or other such interfaces. For efficient and effective use they will need it to be as consumer friendly and as customer focused as possible. For that purpose, the firm can employ the use of AEIOU to ascertain what their customers might require. From the results concluded, an extremely efficient customer-centric software can be designed. The advantages of the AEIOU Design Methodology are innumerable.