Barrett Munce is a self-titled futurist and technologist, human-centred with everything. During the last few years, his focus has been to help businesses and government agencies make the most of technology while making people the central focus.
"(People) it is why we do most things, for humans."
Barrett has held sales, product management, development, leadership, Strategy and technology positions.
Technology and humans are common themes.
Human-Centred is core – what problem are they facing, and what are the needs for solving the problem? Previously, a lot of technology was built and then use was found. In this case, humans have to adapt to technology.
Products and technology development is now starting with a human. E.g. autonomous cars. Recent solutions like Zoom are about solving problems and helping humans function more effectively.
Pushback on technology development is usually based on an already established workflow or use of technology.
Barrett has been involved in developing a startup during the pandemic. It has been focused on solving a human-centric problem. The team has a technologist and other related industries. The diversity of skills means they can focus on solving a human-centric problem. Technology is just a tool and not the main piece.
What are we trying to achieve in helping humans, and how intuitive is the solution?
Leverage experiences that people already have and leverage these.
e.g. the age-old problem of moving house requires many services. The new business focuses on wrapping a technology solution around this problem and aggregating the services.
For people, the focus is on getting their priorities done as quickly and effectively as possible securely and privately. Technology is just a vehicle or tool.
When the user thinks a complex thing appears simple – that is an outstanding achievement.
Consumers are OK to share data securely if they get something in return. Service providers must be transparent about the use of private data.
There are two types of people in a startup. Those who come from a related industry and those that come from a technology perspective. It's essential o analyse every decision so that the approach is human-centric and not technology lead. The technologies are mapped to the experiential and human sides. Always refer back to the user story.
If the approach is too technology-driven, then the risk is that people cannot adapt and find the solution too tricky.
A human-centric approach reduces the risk of failure. The experience of using the solution is more relatable.
In Summary:
- How can technology help me have a better experience and be more effective in how I want to work?
- The human experience is back in the foreground.
- The technology is secondary.
- Technology needs to be tweaked to fit the purpose.
- Security from data protection and personal safety is essential.
