Some user experience professionals have asked me in the past why there is no user in this diagram:

The short answer is just because. It was a doodle that I thought was cute, so I scanned it and put it on my front page, in keeping with a theme.

The longer answer is that I wanted to focus on the designer as the mediator between business and technical interests, which I recognize as just one of many roles. I wanted to depict the designer as someone who reinforces confidence and conceptual integrity by demonstrating value to businesspeople and justifying their investment. Equally, to technologists, designers must demonstrate their competence and justify the conclusions they reach in the definition of an outcome.

Besides, when you look at software production as a system and a process, there really is a little user in everyone.