I've been to Greece in the past year. You can probably tell from the title. Most visitors are impressed by the ancient ruins, but for me, it's even more impressive to consider the endless quest for knowledge and truth that the ancient societies lay bare in their remaining writings, and their ruins as we dig through them. It got me thinking...
Imagine knowledge isn’t a mountain to be conquered, but an archaeological site to be explored.
On the surface, you find the hard artifacts: data, facts, and stated opinions. But deeper down, buried in layers of context, lie the fragile, essential truths: unspoken needs, hidden anxieties, and the "why" behind human behaviour. This is the context for human-centred design.
Let's continue to consider the ancient Greeks who were masters of this kind of exploration.
Socrates, in particular, pioneered the "internal dig for truth." He believed that by asking the right questions, he could help someone excavate truths from their own mind. It’s a powerful method for exposing flawed logic and clarifying our own thinking. In fact, we do this in business every day when we question our own strategies and assumptions, don't we?
But there's a crucial limit to the Socratic method: it only works for truths that are already inside us.
What about the truths that aren't? The ones that live entirely within the experience of another person—a customer, a patient, a citizen. No amount of internal questioning can fully unearth the reality of their world. For that, we need a different kind of archaeology: an external, human- centred dig. One that prioritises empathetic engagement to help us see things from the other viewpoint.
This is a fundamental challenge we face in any human-centred endeavour. There's always a risk of jumping to the "perfect answer," like the supercomputer Deep Thought in The Hitchhiker's Guide, proudly offering "42" to a question we never bothered to frame appropriately. "You asked the wrong question," it says—just like we get misled when we prompt AI inaccurately or rush to solutions in our consulting or business work.
In a recent piece I co-authored on building trust in healthcare with Lumai Tingey (To be known is to be cared for: why human-centred care is a strategic imperative for Australian healthcare - Escient), this distinction became crystal clear. At the Digital Health Festival, we explored what it means for a patient to feel "known." The surface artifacts—the data—are vital.
But feeling "known" came from a deeper layer: the trust built when a clinician understood their anxiety, or the empowerment felt when they were given a real choice. These truths couldn't be found in data alone; they had to be discovered through empathy.
This isn’t just a healthcare problem. It’s a business, technology, and policy problem. We build products based on our internal logic, only to see them underperform because they don't connect with an external reality.
So, how do we become better archaeologists of truth? Perhaps a way forward is by mastering two distinct digs.
1. Start with the internal Socratic dig. Before we go out into the world, it's always good to look inward. We should vigorously question our own axioms—our core motivations and preconceived ideas. Exposing our own internal logic is the first step. Socrates helps us greatly here and the Why? questioning process is a wonderful help. 2. Then begin the external dig (the human-centred work). This is the art of inquiry, not interrogation. It’s about leaving our assumptions at the door and exploring someone else's world with genuine curiosity through interviews, focus groups, observation, and deep listening.
This requires building trust, and building empathy and seeking insights through external means. 3. Use the right tools for the terrain. You shouldn't excavate a fragile pot with a bulldozer.
Sometimes, a conversation isn't the right tool; perhaps we need survey data. Other times, a simple prototype or objects to play with in a playful environment may be a better approach. A prototype isn't a final answer; it's a probe we send to uncover new information. 4. Handle what we uncover with care. The most valuable insights are often the most fragile: a subtle hesitation, a guarded comment, a workaround someone is embarrassed to admit. These are not data points to be categorised. They are clues to a deeper human need and must be treated with respect.
Ultimately, our work is to do more than just seek specific "answers." It's about knowing that we all want to be treated well, and that especially in this period of rapid #AI advancements, we need to start our dig from human-centred values.
If you want more clues on this kind of consulting, take a look at the article on the escient site. I look forward to your comments and thoughts.
Paul& (BTW - the & is me acknowledging I am digging in deep territory of the greats - some a little more contemporary than the ancient Greeks. The late great Edward De Bono was long a champion at lateral thinking but in a later book he explored going beyond the limits of the Socratic method, exemplified by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. He argued that while effective for logical analysis, it can be limited in fostering creative and constructive solutions in rapidly changing environments. His book Parallel Thinking encourages exploring multiple perspectives and ideas simultaneously, promoting a more flexible and nimble approach to thinking. That book still resonates for me today - goodreads.com/book/show/1594773.Parallel_Thinking PS on the topic of asking the right questions: I do not claim to be an AI prompting "expert" but I have learned a lot about what works well and what doesn't and am happy to share a template for anyone who may wish to copy the ideas. Genuine offer - no strings attached. Currently optimised for Chat but concept works for other models including "non-thinking" ones. #HumanCentredDesign #Consulting #Leadership #Strategy #Innovation #CustomerExperience
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