Between 21 – 23 March 2018 the 11th RDA Plenary Meeting will take place in Berlin addressing various challenges of research data management. A co-located event of the German Council for Scientific Information Infrastructures (RfII) deserves a closer look: “If we build it, they will come” – Ways of user involvement in information infrastructure development. On occasion of that event, we will examine the classic topic of user involvement more into detail, and what effects it could have on the design of research infrastructures.