Traditional views assumed users would follow instruction manuals step by step.
But Suchman found that users actually relied on “improvisation” to solve problems—such as trial and error, observing others, or hands-on experimentation.
Many designs force users to conform to the machine’s logic, while she argued that technology fails when it ignores the messiness and collaboration of real-world scenarios.
She advocated for directly observing users rather than relying on theory, which became the foundation of UX design.
Later, she pointed out that AI systems often pretend to “understand” humans but actually overlook the complexity of real behavior—like the robotic responses of customer service chatbots.

Her research advanced user-centered design, reminding us that the standard for “good usability” is whether technology aligns with real human behavior, not just superficial “high-tech” features.

Suchman’s work pushed that designers must study and understand the user instead of just guessing or assuming. This brings on interviews, user research, and personas, where a designer really understands the problem area and where the user is stuck and facing difficulty. 

I think this is so important because even in my own experience I have found that instructions are sometimes hard to understand and you can tell when something was designed without accessibility in mind or sustainably sourced because the solution either does not apply to everyone or does not solve everyone’s problems.

Suchman demonstrated that even well-intentioned designs can fail if they don’t account for real-world use, highlighting the importance of user-centered design. By observing users’ struggles with prototypes, she emphasized that effective design requires moving beyond designers’ assumptions to truly understand diverse user perspectives.

Suchman’s work reshaped our understanding of how technology adapts to human behavior, especially in Interaction Design and Human-Computer Interaction. Her book, “Plans and Situated Actions,” challenged the traditional plan-driven model in cognitive science and AI, emphasizing the importance of situational action. This shift moved Interaction Design from technology-centered to people-centered, laying the groundwork for modern UX research and product design.

This insight challenged the idea that users simply follow pre-designed workflows. Instead, she argued that technology should be designed to support human behavior as it naturally unfolds. She introduced the concept of situated action, which means that people’s actions depend on their specific situation rather than rigid plans.

Her work influenced human and computer interaction by emphasizing the importance of observing real users in real environments. This approach helps designers create more intuitive technology. Instead of assuming users will understand a system the way designers expect, her research encouraged iterative testing and improvements based on actual user behavior.

Overall, Suchman’s work shifted technology design toward being more human-centered, making it clear that successful technology is not just about functionality but also about how well it fits into people’s everyday lives.

Suchman’s research challenges the assumptions about user behavior in traditional technology design. In many early technical systems, designers often assumed that users would follow pre-set operating steps to complete tasks, that is, all interactions were based on clear plans. However, Suchman found through observations of copier users that human behavior is highly adaptable and flexible in actual environments. Her “situational action” theory shows that users’ decisions are not entirely dependent on prior plans, but will be adjusted according to specific circumstances. This discovery directly influenced modern interaction design and prompted designers to pay attention to users’ actual behavior.

In the video we are seeing, Suchman observed people working with a Xerox photocopier that was designed to be user-friendly. Rather than the follow-the-machine’s-step-by-step-instructions way, users struggled, hesitated and improvised their way through their tasks. The designers had taken a linear, logical route to user interaction, but Suchman’s study indicated that people wean new systems through trial and error, contextual cues, and past usage experience. This illustrated one of the key shortcomings of a traditional usability test: it fails to consider how a user will actually act outside of those environments.

The reading from a few weeks back did a great job reinforcing about Suchman’s idea of “situated action” — the notion that how humans interact with technology is context sensitive, shaped by prior experience and the immediate environment, instead of following clear-cut, defined rules. She critiqued the notion that a good or usable experience could simply be designed in isolation, noting that understanding how technology integrates into people’s real workflows requires observation and ethnographic research. Demonstrating that users make sense of technology in deeply adaptive fashions, she called for design strategies that consider this complexity.

Suchman’s analysis changed the landscape of interaction design, UX research, and AI development by prioritizing human practice over system logic. She revealed that usability is not a checklist of design principles, but something to be observed and iterated upon based on real user behavior. Her work is still seeing resonance, especially in realms like AI, automation and UX design, where systems break down when they fail to consider the unpredictable way in which humans use technology. By prioritising the ways of working of real people over the sometimes rigidly ostensible design of social systems, Suchman redefined what it means for technology to “work” for its users.

Because of her insights, designers today are shifting their views on designing, designers now try to see how people use technologies. Her insight fundamentally changed design thinking, and her influence is seen in interactive user interfaces addressing human needs and artificial intelligence. Her works remind us now that technology is efficient and human-centered. This way, we can design tools that are more helpful rather than against human needs.

Because of Suchman, designers now emphasize observing and understanding users in their natural environments, rather than making assumptions from afar. This led to a shift user-centered design, designers focus on real user behaviors and needs through methods like usability testing and prototyping. Modern technologies such as voice assistants, reflect Suchman’s ideas by being flexible, responsive, and adaptive to human behaviors.