Lean Design Meets Cybernetics: The User Defines Purpose

This article explores design from a cybernetics perspective, drawing on the ideas of theorists like Ashby and Beer. It discusses Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety, highlighting the need for sufficient variety in a system regulator to handle perturbations. The author introduces the "user purpose hypothesis" and the "counteraction hypothesis," arguing that users ultimately determine a device's purpose and seek simplification or complexification based on its perceived complexity. The article also explores Poka-Yoke (error-proofing) in lean principles, the cost of variety in design, and the importance of immediate feedback, using the USB design as a case study balancing cost and user experience. Finally, the author cites Krippendorff, emphasizing that an artifact's meaning isn't inherent but assigned by the user through interaction, urging designers to focus on empowering users rather than designing specific products.