
When Bias in Product Design Means Life or Death - sonabinu
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-bias-product-design-means-life-death-carol-reiley
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killjoywashere
Why 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.

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brighteyes
A 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.

