The user is not always correct especially when thinking about designing a product, for instance whenever Facebook comes out with a new interface all of the users said it was horrible, but after sometime learned to love it. This is widely because they invest a lot of money thinking about why people do what they do, how they do it, and how their thought processes are. I believe there to be a larger "user-centered" focus because if big name designers asked the input of 50 different people and tried to input all of their ideas, or cater specifically to them, it would be a mess. In any market in any situation, you cannot satisfy everyone, their will always be neigh sayers. The goal should be to satisfy most of them, while simultaneously not shunning the others.
When it comes to situational-centric design, I without knowing it have been using it for quite sometime, after learning it from my father. Through countless hours of working two separate businesses (one retail and one wholesale), I have learned that neither taking yourself out, or completely catering yourself to your wants or need is the answer. The key to good design and good business is taking a step back, think about the potential customer base, and then putting yourself in their shoes. This allows you to figure out not what you or they need, but what is good for the group or target as a whole needs, and can function best with.
For my second project, if I could have done one thing different when it comes to my method, I would have chosen a different way of usability testing. Instead of picking somebody to test it that I personally knew to have an athletic background but that does not do cardio, I would have chosen to study those that do. By analyzing those who use cardio machines I could have then figured out what they struggled with (the situation), and then attempted to design from their.
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