When problem solving, do we spend too much time looking at the computer screen and not what's going on all around us?

I presented the following slideshow and discussed that question with 50 of New Zealand's User Experience experts last week.

There was a consensus that User Experience* experts spend a lot of their effort fixing little problems (one attendee said "we are the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff"), when they observe flaws with the overall system, service or product offering.

People cited Ferrit and the Auckland Labtests saga as recent examples of large-scale failures which perhaps could have been avoided with the common-sense and people-centred approach of an experienced User Experience consultant.

* "User Experience", often abbreviated as UX, is a term used to describe the overarching experience a person has as a result of their interactions with a particular product or service, its delivery, and related artefacts, according to their design.