There is one thing that bothers me about UX-design. One of the shortcomings of a user centered design approach, is that it only focuses on existing needs and not on new revolutionary ideas. For example, I don't believe that someone expressed the need of checkins to Foursquare or the whole theory of gamification, yet they managed to develop a highly successful digital product. (With a easy to understand interface of course.)
I've looked at a lot of research methods and they all seem to only focus on fixing bad but existing experiences such as identifying what tasks a site visitor wants to accomplish. By only focusing on task completion we only solve the hygiene factors.
The question is am I wrong? If so. please enlighten me.
Answer
Goals and vision are the question. User experience is the answer.
User experience is not just about what users need. It's about meeting the product owner's goals or vision, while taking user needs into consideration. These goals or vision might be revolutionary or conservative. In addition, if you research both the owner requirements and the users' needs well enough, you might find opportunities for innovation no one has ever thought of.
Regarding the case of Foursquare. Foursquare is actually a "sequel" venture of its co-founder Dennis Crowley. Crowley sold his first project - Dodgeball - to Google. This was a social platform for checking into bars and other venues and finding other friends nearby. This is not something discovered in user research, since this is not an actual "need". No one's missing it until they start using it. Once such a thing exists, even as a sketch or a prototype, you can start investigating into improving the experience. This can be done by either interviewing potential users on how they meet-up with friends currently and figuring out what such a service can help with, or by letting users use an early version and see how they react.
At Foursquare, they improved users engagement (ie. the rate and longevity of use) by introducing gamification elements. Indeed, many people didn't see a point in just checking in places. This means that they had a business problem - how can they attract users to re-visit more often - and they used user experience to solve it. With PBL (points, badges and leader boards), Foursquare became more attractive for the first users, who didn't have any friends logged in, by tapping into their psychological need for competition and achievement. This might not be a very innovative solution, but it created a unique service that millions enjoy.
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