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When Bias in Product Design Means Life or Death
- killjoywashere 9y agoWhy not just make the very sound argument that white American men are an extreme minority of the population and designing to their needs puts your product at risk in the marketplace? Losing a $1x10^11 market for want of a $1x10^8 investment in talent diversity up front is just poor investment.
- brighteyes 9y agoA well-intentioned article, but it makes the usual set of mistakes. After discussing gender, racial, and other forms of diversity, it says this: > Unfortunately, when a single homogeneous group is designing and engineering the vast majority of technology, they will consciously and unconsciously pass on their own biases. But there is not a single homogeneous group designing the vast majority of technology. First of all, in the US, the bulk of tech workers are white and Asian men, and includes a large amount of people not born in the US. That's not a homogeneous group. Not in race, skin color, native language, etc. Second, the US is not the only place where technology is designed and engineered. A very large amount is created in Asia, in particular. One example the author focuses on is cars: Japan is obviously of major importance in that area. From cars to phones to game consoles, technology is a very global industry. No single homogeneous group controls it. The author means well, but is mostly parroting common speaking points including their mistakes and biases. We can and should do better on this topic.