Define user needs
Understand your users and their needs. Develop knowledge of your users and what that means for your technology project or programme.
Point 1 of the Technology Code of Practice (TCoP) explains how you should identify who your technology decisions affect, and how to use that insight to shape effective technical choices.
Why you should define your users’ needs
When you make a decision about the technology you use, this choice affects other aspects of your service or programme. Most importantly, it affects groups who are often invisible during delivery. These include:
- support teams who keep the service running
- operations staff who resolve incidents
- teams who will integrate with or reuse what you’ve built in the future
- anyone who uses or engages with your service, even if they do not interact with the technology behind it
Understanding your users’ means that decisions about technology and architecture are based on evidence about who is affected and what those users need.
Not understanding your users leads to technical debt and the creation of unsupportable systems. This means that any later decisions about integration, purchasing or decommissioning you make will inherit problems that would have been avoidable.
What good looks like
You have defined your users’ needs if:
- you can name all of the specific groups affected by your technology decision, which include support teams, operations teams, and any teams likely to integrate with or rely on what you build
- you have evidence, not assumptions, of the operational and technical needs that shape your architecture
- your technology choices can be traced back to a specific identified user need
- you have identified where introducing or changing technology creates risk for people who depend on it, and have factored that into your delivery plan
How to apply this principle
Your users’ needs should:
- apply at every major technology or architecture decision point, and not only at the start of a project
- be defined through lightweight checks if you are implementing small, well-understood change - a full research exercise isn’t needed every time
- reflect current operational and support needs for legacy systems, rather than trying to reconstruct historic use
Additional considerations
User needs are often skipped when projects are under delivery pressure. In this situation, keep the process of understanding your users’ needs a proportionate, lightweight check, not a heavyweight process or compliance box-tick.
Contact us
If you have any questions or feedback, email publicsector.architecture@dsit.gov.uk.
Next: Technology Code of Practice point 2 - Make things accessible and inclusive