[Sigia-l] request for feedback re: info design challenge

[Maria Cordell]

Hello, all!

I'm writing to get some thoughts and feedback about a pending job
opportunity. First, a brief bit of background. I've been doing
information design/architecture work for six+ years. This spring I
completed an MS in Information Design and Technology at Georgia Tech
in Atlanta. I freelanced through the summer and recently started
looking for full time work.

I have a couple of options before me. The one that is perhaps most
interesting is also the one that offers the greatest challenge and
potential for frustration. The company has never before used an IA or
interaction designer, scarcely knows the term "wireframe" or how to
use wireframes, and where product managers and software developers
have little or no experience working with a designer. That being said,
they realize they need something between product managers specifying
"make a UI for feature x, and make it 'easy to use'" and having
programmers write code. To date, all their application UIs have been
"designed" by engineers who admittedly have no business doing so. They
know there's a significant problem with the user experience (though
they don't call it that) but just don't know how to fix it.

I can step in to systematically address the issues, starting from
scratch on major, upcoming product versions, and making iterative
improvements on smaller incremental product updates. Since there's no
existing process at this company for our kind of work, getting things
going will be tough and at times frustrating, and I will undoubtedly
encounter some roadblocks and resistance along the way. I know I'm
going to have to do some educating regarding process, and I'm okay
with that. I'll be a solo act, and as a design team of "one" (sounds
like a slogan I've heard somewhere...), this will be a highly
demanding position. On the other hand, I'm not one to shy away from a
challenge, and getting these guys on the right track could be very
rewarding.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, especially if you've had to
step into a similar situation. Thanks for all feedback.

Cheers,

Maria Cordell
mcordell at gmail.com