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

[Thomas Vander Wal]

I see Apple as one of the few companies that is always designing. 
Many organizations only do this in phases with design, iterate, and
maintain.  It is during the maintainance mode that designers leave. 
We like to problem solve and take things to the next level, not
changing the oil daily while not being permitted to design the
self-oil chaning tools.

I get asked about what will happen to the projects I have been moving
forward the last three years after I leave.  It is a tough question,
but at this point there are no resources to move to the next level,
nor the desire to change the organization that next giant step.  I
have acomplished in three years plus, what I thought would take six
months.  The next step will take changes in management on many fronts
and budgets that will not be available for two years after a large
move.  I am no longer waiting.  It is now a daily frustration that
will not change for two years.

On previous projects I have been outside in an agency and done rev 1
and called back for rev 2.  I have been called back by many former
custmers.  It has been long-term gigs or jobs that have been what kept
me from taking the work.  I have often come back as a consultant to
help them select the right person for the role for rev 2.  I have kept
a few hours a month set aside for pay to answer questions for pay. 
That has worked well for nearly all involved.

In this scenario I have assessed contracts, filled-in after a designer
fled the area after Sept. 11, found a replacement for me, set the
goals for their next version, helped train the leadership in the
organization on how to select good designers and developers (this is
really hard for business folks and they often get it wrong, but only
know this after they figure they can't get out).

I also like setting the vision, putting the plan in place, building
the team, and working to solve the tough pieces.  Most places I know
do not need many of the roles they have as full-time and there is not
work to keep a designer (yes, I include IA in the design profession)
around and entertained full-time.  Working through how to cycle these
roles in through the processes is essential.  Working  on how to
ensure there is no, or little, loss of knowledge is hard and it takes
more money than most people budget.

I think "flipping" jobs is more than working in places that don't get
it (this is a huge part of it). I think it too is not needing the
skills full-time.  Companies not only need to "get it" they need to be
smart enough to work through the keeping the people entertained
between the bursts of need.  In one project I worked on we kept a
visual designer on full-time so to have consistancy on the visual
design of the project. There was only a third of the work to fill
full-time.  He was paid well, so to keep him around, and he could work
on other side projects to fill the time as long as he gave complete
priority to what we needed.  That understanding was insanely rare.  I
was suprised I as able to pull it off with the customer, but they felt
consistancy was very important.  We had very tight design specs, but
the local market is not flooded with good digital visual designers and
we often needed the work on less than a day's notice.

It takes some very creative managment to pull this off, but also
companies that "get it" enough to go with a creative management
solution.

All the best,
Thomas

On Apr 3, 2005 7:16 AM, Dave <dheller at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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-)