In design and therefore in technology the bias is difficult to eliminate. The technology we use tends to reflect the people who create it. They are the result of the designer's experiences, perspectives, biases. Even though the technology industry has taken steps to diversify its workforce, it still attracts a particular segment of the society and does not reflect the diversity of the society and hence is not fully representative of the society it aims to serve.
This is likely to continue and there is no easy solution. Hence there is an attempt to redesign the process of design itself to ensure that the products designed are inclusive of all the people it is aimed to serve. This process is not easy and may prove an uphill task to the already complicated process of product design but the following actions can be taken to make the product more inclusive and representative.
Design with excluded communities, not for them.
Empathising with user communities to understand their requirements is the first step in design thinking. However, it would be difficult for teams to understand without relating it to their own experiences and this approach could lead the entire design process.
One way to add this perspective to designers must design with rather than for the people. identify the people, build relationships with people normally excluded from the design development process, trust their experiences, knowledge and perspectives and use it to direct product development and strategy. team leaders must empower the intended audience to make product decisions rather than validate them.
Ideally, this mutual discussion and decision making will create a product that allows people to engage and keep refining it after the product is launched. Everyone benefits when products are more accessible and flexible.
How does one do it?
Form task forces from the community, actively strengthen connections, use co-creation methods throughout the process. Compensate the members for their contributions and build the community members capacity to create their solutions.
Foster belonging through representation
One approach to prevent exclusion is to use default representations to minimize the impact of tokenism. It is not just the question of who is selected, it is also at work in visual clues and aesthetics.
How to do it?
Product leaders consider representation across all levels. Reflect on whether product privileges certain communities' culture to achieve balance. avoid defaults that make assumptions about people's identities.
Strengthen culture, process and training.
To build products to serve more people, raise questions about the gaps in a company's composition of manpower. Ask oneself the question How diverse is the team? What are the socioeconomic and educational backgrounds? If everyone in the team is similar, one will get only a small pocket of innovation compared to a diverse team.
Diverse teams can also leverage workflows and tools that intentionally consider inclusion. Start with an inclusive mindset right from the beginning and don't treat like a checkbox, o be ticked.
How to do it?
product leaders must staff diverse teams and support them through capacity building. They must actively identify and exclude instances of exclusion. Continuous training and education will help.
Establish accountability
Accountability is necessary for any goal. When teams build in inclusion commitments, it makes them proactive. They should specify what they mean by inclusion. The more the specifics, the easier it is to assess the efforts. Teams are more likely to take action if you combine the long term goals and short term achievable goals with specific plans.
How to do it
Leaders must specify definable goals and plans for products and teams. All team members share responsibility for progress. Performance reviews should include the members' contribution to inclusion. Digital platforms to be used to hold product leaders accountable.
Normalise inclusion at a system level.
Team members normally do not like to stand out. members alter their behaviours to fit in with what seems to be the norm. Adding inclusion to the mainstream practice could drive change and deepen the commitment to the organisation.
Norms are reinforced through systems and tools in use every day. The design system is a mechanism for scaling intent and repeating outcomes over time. If success is defined by the ability to use the product in ways that work best for them then this is what will be scaled up.
How to do it?
product leaders must share the best practices and align their work with inclusive practices. Highlight the case of inclusion and create design systems intentionally to include inclusion. Extend existing design system components, rather than creating new components from scratch.
In summary, everyone involved in product development needs to take responsibility for creating inclusive technology.
To Build More-Inclusive Technology, Change Your Design Process
by Felix Chang HBR 2020/10
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