[Sigia-l] is it just me, or is it really hard to find IAs right now?

[Dave]

thomas makes some great points below, but I came up w/ this question:

If Jonathan Ive left Apple after the first iMac would Apple be where
it is today?

As someone who has been an "innie" most recently, I really struggle
with this. Real design is iterative, not just during the project, but
between projects. The first task is to create that roadmap and stick
to it (iterating on it, evolving it), but contract for hire work makes
that really difficult to do, b/c the vision moves along quickly.

I have noticed that (and this is just anectdotal) that people don't
"flip" jobs as often when they are working for companies that seem to
"get" design, or at least invest in it.

Agency or contract for hire work are the same in that you barely ever
get to do 2.0, and many times to reduce costs you never even stick
around through and past implementation of 1.0.

I'm not saying there is no reason for contract work, but I don't see
the solution to flipping being "make flipping work" ... I see it more
as reduce the need/desire to flip AND make flipping work. 8-)

-- dave

On Apr 2, 2005 9:19 PM, Thomas Vander Wal <vanderwal at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 31, 2005 4:48 PM, Dave <dheller at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi freelancers,
> >
> > I've been a hiring manager on both the agency side and now for a
> > software company. I have to say that freelancers to me are a waste of
> > my time. Why? B/c it is knowledge unretained. While I appreciate why
> > freelancing is useful to freelancers and it has the advantage to the
> > employer of being lower risk, if the person doesn't have the
> > possibility of staying and remaining a part of the greater whole, then
> > it just doesn't work for me.
> 
> I hear what you are saying.  But, maybe the model needs to change.
> Retention of the information is tough, as you explain below those
> being hired in-house are also flipping.  Perhaps the model needs to
> extend the project from just beyond the task needed, to providing
> documentation regarding the decision path taken and reasoning behind
> decisions.  This should ease some of the knowledge lost.
> 
> Most importantly there is a second step needed.  There must be a
> follow-up phase.  This may be one or two months following the rollout,
> or up to six months, but there must be follow-up.  Why?  The IA
> (whatever they are calling themself) should be required to come back
> an assess the success.  Out of this they must provide a lessons
> learned and assessment as to what needs to be the focus of the next
> round.  This will not only help the IA, but it will build living
> knowledge that can reside within the group.  Practices and processes
> must be documented in some format as a deliverable.  The funds must be
> made available for these pieces.
> 
> > Anyone who left NY in 2001, it is time to come home. Why? well there
> > are jobs here now and they are exploding, especially in the agency
> > market, from what I have seen.
> >
> > Now for the IxD market which is mainly software based, this is not so
> > true. But good IAs and general UX designers with advert, intranet, and
> > e-com experience (the webbie side).
> >
> > I have recently been interviewing with an agency, which uses
> > contract-hire policies. I have noticed that they have very high turn
> > over rates of employees, and thus have not been able to innovate ideas
> > and retain those ideas in-house. They are so focused on making the
> > current project, that they forget that as an agency they are
> > responsible for more than that. They need to have R&D, so that they
> > can do more than just copy or iterate (iteration is not the same as
> > innovation). I realize this is a bubble burst thing, but the burst has
> > been cleaned up and agencies need to start ramping up beyond the next
> > project and putting some more fore-thought into their hiring
> > practices.
> 
> This problem is not just NYC, but in most agencies.  The focus is
> always on producing and not improving.  Not only is it short sighted,
> but it bad for the agency and their customer base.  Not only is R&D
> important but so is having their people be a part of the larger
> community.  Does the agency support writing, be it white papers or
> articles, do they support speaking at industry events, do the support
> learning and sharing within their walls?  These are some of the big
> questions I ask when looking at where I will be next.  I find very few
> places pass this test.  Learning, growing, and innovating are a very
> important part of the design culture from my perspective.  There are
> only a few agencies/consultancies that I would consider and I can
> count them on one hand with fingers left over.
> 
> When I make my next step (it is coming rather soon) it may be to one
> of the few firms I respect, go in-house to work on a project that
> adore (I love the messy problems), or I will go out on my own and pick
> projects that excite me.  When looking at free-lancing I expect that
> most of my work will be outside of where I live and I will travel a
> bit, but also I expect to use the full compliment of communications
> tools available to keep intouch with the customer (I am seeing few
> that do that).
> 
> All the best,
> Thomas
> 
> ------
> www.vanderwal.net
> 


-- 
David Heller
E: dheller (at) gmail (dot) com
W: www (dot) synapticburn (dot) com