[Sigia-l] Responsibility in design (was NYC-CHI 29 Jan, 6-8PM...)

[Listera]

"David Heller" wrote:

> Ya know, I lived in NYC for 10 years before my move to CA a year ago and
> I have to say that the advent of the metrocard machine from soup to nuts
> was a HUGE blessing. [...] But that isn't even the real point of this post.

You are quite right, whether transportation system vending machines are
better than manual methods or whether the NYC ATMs are better than others is
not the issue here at all. Antenna did not invent the ATM.
 
> Jeez, if I was going to get that type of scathing attack on any of the
> products that I've worked on in the last 10 years I would probably not put my
> name on them. 

Thanks for going right to the gist of the matter. I do not want this option
to be seen as a non-option. We all have to start somewhere, learn as we go
along and make mistakes as we learn. Having said that, there is a difference
between making growing mistakes and doing design for the nation's largest
subway system as a mature design shop, in what I assume was a competitive
bid.

This is a public project, to be used literally by millions of people, day in
day out. What may be tolerable in a discretionary, commercial product (which
as a private citizen you are free to buy or not) often cannot be in such a
highly visible public amenity. You bet I will use a higher standard.

> Design is never about perfection, but it is about working the
> system to create the best that you can within that system.

When the 'system' is fundamentally wrong/corrupt/etc, you should have the
option to resign. If you are an accountant in the Enron account at Andersen,
you shouldn't just adjust to the 'system constraints', you should (fight,
blow the whistle or) resign. If you find yourself in one of those
$10million-spent-and-nothing-to-show-for-it CRM projects, you shouldn't just
adjust to the 'system constraints', you should fight or resign. If you find
yourself as a $10 million/year stock 'analyst' pressured to give conflicting
or downright fraudulent advice to your clients, you should resign. If you
make $250/hr 'designing' shovelware or skip-intros for a client who doesn't
know any better (but could be educated), you should (educate or) resign. You
may not resign and expect to justify it somehow, but please don't expect me
to allow you to be proud.

So yes, I'm opining for responsibility in design. And the cojones to resign
when the constraints start to eat fundamentally into your own integrity, to
say nothing of the integrity of the project design.

> The system is not only the design environment, but the design process
> environment and even if they designed the whole enchilada, as you put it, it
> still requires so many outside forces that it would be impossible to get what
> any designer would wanted.

That may be. But designers are not indentured slaves, they always have the
option to object and, ultimately, to resign. We never find ourselves in
'perfect' situations. The commercial world is more complicated than that. So
this is not a plea for perfection at all. But this doesn't mean that
designers are absolved from responsibilities. If nobody ever gets blamed
(designers blame programmers, programmers blame managers, managers blame
public policies, politicians blame voters...) then we never learn or get
better. The buck has to stop somewhere.

> Sure it isn't perfect, and it does break some ATM rules, but
> it is also different from the Bank ATM that many have compared it to.

I don't care whether it conforms to bank ATMs or not.
 
> Everyone should be proud of their efforts.

Absolutely. But you cannot be proud if you have just caved in, got along and
produced a fundamentally flawed product. Otherwise what's the point of
'pride'? 

> Again, heuristic analysis aside, if you look at the real world results I
> think they are quite telling, especially in comparison with other ATM
> subway ticketing systems.

Again, why not raise the bar? Especially because it's a public project.

I wrote my comments right after I returned from the Winter Garden looking at
some of the proposals for rebuilding the World Trade Center site. Do you
remember the atrocities that were presented a few months ago as proposals?
The designers had the temerity to absolve themselves by claiming there were
too many constraints by the owners of the site. Many designers did not
submit projects because of that and those restraints were subsequently
altered substantially as a direct result of designer and public pressure.

So, yes, public projects demand extra effort, lower tolerance and higher
standards, in my book.

Best,

Ziya