Maximizing value is the challenge facing every product/service/organization designer ! Of course utility has to be ‘intuitively’ expressed by/with users (and other stakeholders) but there also is a methodical way to formalize utility : value improvement methods exist for a long time and are based on 3 principles :
> ask « What for ? »
tools can help answer precisely : the utility of anything is to transform what comes in into what should come out …
(do not ask ‘why? » : this leads to causes, not utility !)
> ask « What is enough ? »
to avoid spending too useful resources, tools can help trace to which utility they participate, or avoid spending them if unuseful (you cannot imagine how much resources re actually not directly useful !)
> work with the stakeholders
only them know the answers !
This simple value approach is actually sometimes difficult to manage, as this reasoning is ‘complex’ and ‘systemic’, which we are not trained to use …
see this article