[Sigia-l] Strategists (What do they do that IA's don't?)

[robert.dornbush at ps.ge.com]

So does this mean that the number of "Business Strategists" still employed
is directly proportional to the number of dotcoms still in business?

Dan Saffer wrote:
>When I worked at agencies, strategists were also charged with coming up
>with a long-term business plan for the project: i.e.. how the company was
>going to make money off the website, how much to charge for the
>services/content/products the website trafficked in, analysis of
>competitors from a business- success viewpoint, and researching overall
>web/technology trends that the business may profit from. Few of these
>things are currently done (or want to be done) by the IAs I know. In
>truth, few could be done well by most of the IAs I know, as we don't
>usually come out of MBA programs.

No offense intended towards Dan, he was just giving a clearly honest and
educational answer to a real inquiry regarding the meaning of "Strategist."
Now for the less objective (but perhaps equally educational) lesson on
agency-style Business Strategy:

As an IA having worked as "UEA" under the auspices of mis-management in an
agency style "Business Strategy" department, my experience is that those
"strategy" guys learned everything they know about blowing smoke up the
client's ass from Darren & Mr. Tate on the old TV show "Bewitched"...they
are the ultimate spin doctors who value market research & usability testing
only insofar as they can twist it to support their own preconceived
conclusions...if they did graduate MBA, I'm sure it was with a drink in
hand.

Robert E. Dornbush, Jr.
UI Architect / Interaction Designer
GE Power Systems
robert.dornbush at ps.ge.com
uiarchitect at earthlink.net
desk - 678 844 4625


"Method helps intuition when it is not transformed into dictatorship.
Intuition augments method if it does not instill anarchy.  In every moment
of our semiotic existence, method and intuition complement one another."
 - Mihai Nadin (on Interface Design & Evaluation)