User-centeredness and product development. Avoiding isolated UCD competency and the TLA trap

In the call for papers to this workshop there is an underlying current in the issues raised: User centered design has apparently come of age and we have to ask ourselves, what is it that we are engaged in – Is it just another three letter abbreviation (TLA) that will live and die within the usual TLA life cycle of approximately five years; Is it a new specialist domain that has to find its place among all the other specialties involved in product development; Or is it really so that we should continue to claim that what we are involved in has a calling for everyone engaged in bringing technology to the market. In this position paper we will argue for the last point of view, based on our joint experiences as members of the User Centered Design Group at the Danish company Danfoss.