Code Is Cheap Now — Understanding Users Isn't

Presenter: Ali Khosravi from PSI

Main points of your contribution:

1. The hard part of RSE isn’t the code, it’s understanding users and how they already work.
2. A real case study: a data-sharing platform for a 30+ group, and projected ~200-researcher Swiss consortium.
3. A concrete ‘‘understand → build → ask → repeat’’ loop, including real questionnaire findings.
4. A reflection on how AI shifts the value of the job: when prototypes take days, user understanding, communication, and ownership become the scarce skills.

What listeners will learn:

1. A practical method for designing tools researchers will actually adopt (not just tools that work).
2. Why existing habits make or break adoption, and how to account for them.
3. How to run the build–feedback loop in practice, with lessons from a live project.
4. How to rethink their own role, as AI makes code cheap.

Intended audience & skills needed:

Basically anyone who’s interested in building tools for researchers, there will also be some values for research group leaders to see the experience. No specialist background needed: no specific programming language, domain, or FAIR-data expertise required.