Consultant Khalil A. Cassimally says he discovered user needs at a time when he was becoming increasingly cynical about the role media plays in society. His foray into user needs began with a LinkedIn post from Dmitry Shishkin, the CEO of Ringier Media, who is widely considered a founding father of the framework.

“The ugly secret is that there are a lot of people in the industry who no longer believe that we do much good for people,” Cassimally said. “As someone who was born, and has spent most of his life, in the global majority, not only did I share this view, my thinking went further: I thought, and still think, that we do more harm than good to millions of people worldwide.

“So, when I stumbled upon a post on LinkedIn that made a case for a different way of doing content, one that is grounded in people, and explained how to do it, I felt heard,” he said. “And incredibly rejuvenated — a better way was possible.”

That was five years ago. Since then, Cassimally — who consults, advises, and mentors teams and individuals at media organisations worldwide — has worked on user needs in many capacities, from managing implementation to advising and training newsrooms.

I had an opportunity to ask Cassimally some questions about user needs, which I’ve written about extensively in the past year. And I’m hosting a user needs seminar at INMA’s World Congress of News Media, so register for that!

My first question: Have you seen interest in user needs continue to rise? 

To which he said: User needs has never been more popular.

“In my opinion, that is in part due to the snowball effect created as the number of media organisations implementing it increases exponentially,” he said. “And in part due to an acknowledgement-cum-normalisation of the importance of an audiences-informed way of working within the industry. 

“At a more micro level, I think a key reason the model has become so popular is it doesn't threaten the agency of journalists. User needs does not instruct journalists what they can or cannot cover. It merely provides them with a way into stories that will make their journalism resonate better with people.”

Cassimally stressed that user needs won’t work if it’s merely a cosmetic layer added on top of status quo journalism. That approach becomes another administrative box that journalists need to tick, with little value.

“When embraced properly however, user needs becomes a normal part of doing journalism,” he said. “Our audiences are centred in our journalism, and everyone benefits.”

The four fundamental categories of needs — know, understand, feel, do — all remain relevant today, Cassimally said.

“A lot has been said about the need that people have to feel something about what’s happening,” he explained. “We see this manifested in efforts to provide more positive or hopeful stories, for example.”

Cassimally sees strong potential for addressing what he called the most underserved need of them all: “Connect me.” 

“I think we have an incredible opportunity to better connect people with one another,” he said. “And honestly, it’s a necessity. We’re becoming too disconnected from one another and we’re seeing the results of that disconnect with fractured societies, loneliness epidemics, etc.”

He also believes user needs should expand beyond text and into other products like newsletters, podcasts, videos, and more.

“User needs should be applied to everything we do. Because everything we do should, ideally, be in service of people’s needs,” Cassimally said. 

Finally, I asked Cassimally: “If a newsroom wanted to get started tomorrow with user needs, what’s one small, high-impact step you’d recommend?”

What he said:

“Bring together half a dozen people who believe that an audiences-informed way is a better way of doing journalism. And start going through the steps of the user needs implementation playbook. You will find small-scale success very quickly. And that will help you scale user needs in the organisation. Because when something is very clearly working, more and more people get excited and want to join the movement.”

Cassimally’s playbook is a six-week e-mail course that covers: 

• Understanding user needs and how to get internal buy-in.

• How to prepare for implementation.

• How to do a user needs audit.

• How to build a small, cross-functional team that will serve user needs.

• How to focus on creating valuable content.

• When, and how, to scale a user needs operation.

Sign up for the course.

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