[Sigia-l] Web Developers

[Bill Killam]

>I'm sorry you feel that way, especially in light of the fact that the
marketplace seems to have made that decision in the way they are hired for
fairly distinct roles.

Nonsense.  The Marketplace has made no such decision.  Again, this is a too
overly general statement to possible be true.

>> If you are referring to a person who only does usability tests then I
agree, but there is little point in making that claim.

>There are many people, on this list even, who do just that.

So what?  This is an unfair comparison and another overt generalization.
Are you talking about a person, a role, or a process?  As in a designer or
design work or a design process?  Comparing a "designer" to a "usability
person" is as silly talking about the "average" user.

>And other titles are?

Human Factors Engineer, interaction designer,...

>> If I'm, not mistaken, the "D" in UCD stands for design - not testing.

>Not sure what this means. UCD is not a prerequisite to design in any way.

I didn't say is was a prerequisite.  It's a design process that involves
testing.

> Yes, there are many in "usability people" who only test.  Just as there
are many designers, who simply don't.

>Someone who never tests shouldn't be allowed to design.

So someone who only "designs" but never test shouldn't be allowed to design.
Great.  I agree.  And someone who tests but never designs shouldn't be
allowed to test.  (You more or less said that in a previous post.)  You just
seem to want to reserve the term "design" for the activities of someone
starting from scratch.  I'd call a process of design that involves testing a
UCD process.

>Again, UCD is but one way to design.

See above.

>> And I have some test people who can help redesign but are not good at 
>> designing from scratch.

>They are not designers, period.

Hogwash.  Someone who can perform a good redesign is also doing design work,
but with limited capability.

Bill