[Sigia-l] Usability Prank

[Alexandre Castro e Silva - Usability]

Hi there.

I think you guys are being too hard on me.

1) Russ, I don't think it was an unprofessional attitude. It didn't impact
or
influence or interfere with the job at hand, it was done at lunchtime and
there was no breach of the confidentiality of the test. Exactly what was
unprofessional about it?

2) It was a private "joke" that stayed between my assistant and I. No one
else ever heard about it. It wasn't a public humiliation or something. After
the fact, I told him his performance was actually great, he only had to mind
my privacy. And we continued to be good friends and good workmates.

3) I don't consider the subject to be off-topic in a Usability-related list.
It's a kind of story that only people who have conducted Usability tests can
fully understand.

4) I had already told him to respect my privacy and it DIDN'T work. This
private lesson, or prank, call it what you want, did the job. He never
peeped into my email again.

5) Boniface, just for the record, I thought the story had made it plain: I
didn't complain to his boss, I merely pretended to. In fact, his performance
(as I told him later) was flawless - except for peeping into my email!

6) Gunnar, I didn't brag and I certainly didn't ask for anyone's admiration.
I was just telling a story to people who'd have the professional backround
to understand it.

Finally, we have people from all over the world here in this list, so it's
hard to make generalizations, but maybe there's a cultural issue involved.
You guys really took this too harshly. Even though I'm American-educated and
widely travelled (so I know how things are done abroad and where you guys
are coming from), I don't think most Brazilians would have a problem with
what I done. It was a regular workplace prank, with no impact whatsoever on
the job at hand; far from compromising "respectful/constructive
interpersonal relations" ou "trust issues", it actually increased morale and
made me bond with my assistant. Years later, after he had left the company,
I told this to his boss and he actually complimented on my handling of the
situation, saying that I had managed to get the boy to stop reading my email
by teaching him a lesson instead of rashly pulling rank on him.

So, there are two sides to every question.

All the best,

Alex