H
uman Centered Design and Engineering (HCDE) is an evolving field that focuses on understanding human needs and interests and applying that knowledge to engineer solutions to the world’s problems.
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Colin Coltrera ’08
Until recently, the whole concept of human-centered design was anchored in Silicon Valley, driving innovative design of apps and computer programs. Now there is a movement to take the concept “beyond the device” and use it to help companies and industries work more effectively in human-centered ways. “My work is to coach supervisors and executives in social science skills so they can see the larger picture and tackle problems with larger solutions,” explains Colin Coltrera ’08, who coaches several companies in human-centered design principles. Colin holds a master’s in Learning, Design, and Technology from Stanford University, and until recently, worked as a principal designer at People Rocket, a design management firm in San Francisco.
Human Centered Design and Engineering Consultant
Teasing Out Stories Colin guides people in using ethnographic methods to uncover the problems of work within their organizations. Then, he helps them address the problems in sustainable and human-centered ways with an equity lens and a focus on sharing knowledge. For many companies, this is a radically different way to solve problems. “A common practice is to get a bunch of experts into a room to solve problems from their set of expertise. But sometimes people have needs that cannot be solved from the expert’s eye,” says Colin.
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For example, at People Rocket, Colin worked with a large restaurant organization to re-examine their supply chain. The organization had senior directors and VPs who had expertise in supply chain, but no experience as a truck driver or back-of-restaurant employee in charge of tracking supplies. “The first thing we did was help the senior directors go to all those people on the supply chain and tease out the individual stories of what was happening on the ground. We asked, what’s not working? What are you doing to make it work? What are your pain points?” recounts Colin. “Then we took that data and put it on the wall.” According to Colin, the senior directors were flummoxed. “They said, ‘What are you talking about, we have systems in place.’ But it turns out those systems were not serving the people on the ground.”
