An interview process to anticipate future needs: First analysis of an approach to explore future user experiences in the fields of business travel and tourism

Abstract

This paper resituates an intervention focusing on “ideation and prospective” on new products and services in the field of travel. It promotes a “need-seeker” or “prospective ergonomics” approach applied to private and business travel sectors. To this end, it develops an ideation-centred interview method. This method is based on the confrontation of interviewers with a description of human activities before, during and after the trips. Applied to 14 experts, this ideation interview counted 106 new ideas. 33 were selected by the company, 6 scenarios for future use were written and tested on target users. This intervention finally makes it possible to discuss the question of anticipating needs. It leads one to consider that there would be an expertise in future needs; that such expertise can be co-constructive, between an expert and an interviewer. This expertise focuses primarily on content: there are people who, through their profession, their experience or their knowledge, have a high capacity to produce representations of the future. Secondly, there are situations, particularly interviews, which improve the development of representations of future uses.