[Sigia-l] NYT 7/8/7: Technologys Untanglers: They Make It Really Work

[Jay Morgan]

Andrew, about a year ago I would have written the same response you did
here.  Then I changed companies.  I moved from a business team in ecommerce
to an interactive marketing group in ecommerce.  The interactive team's work
looked more sophisticated, but the joke was on me.  Most of the people I
work with tout their experience in the interactive space and claim they
design with the user in mind.  They're even clued-in enough to go a few
rounds on the little-d/Big-D bit with you.  I mean, they've had to show ROI
and validate their designs and do research.

When you scratch the surface, though, these folks don't really understand
the difference between usability testing at the beginning or end of a
project's lifecycle.  They get confused when a user goal isn't the same as a
business goal.

This article seemed so quaint at first read.  Then, I thought about whom I'd
share it with.  I realized a few of the people on my short list might not
realize that Microsoft and Sony do usability testing/user research, or that
linguistics is a natural fit for a usability engineer.  Those are things I
take for granted.  As I let go of a few of those assumptions I see that
little-d/Big-D only matters in a small circle of folks.  I want to be sure
those people can still communicate with the regular project team members and
stake holders who don't get it but need to.

I challenge you to take the perspective of someone who is on a design team
and who doesn't know anything about usability methods.  How would you get
that person to introduce a usability technique on their next project?
Educating people like that has become a big part of my current role, and it
completely snuck up on me like the Nothing.  It's a tough challenge and
extraordinarily rewarding.

Let me know what you think.
- Jay

On 7/8/07, Andrew Boyd <facibus at gmail.com> wrote:

> perhaps I am jaded, but the article seemed a throwback to a time when
> usability was news - perhaps five years or slightly more ago. I see
> UCD and usability validation as being relatively mature now, something
> more accepted and less remarkable in and of itself.
>
> I think that we've moved on to something a little more holistic -
> perhaps the Big D Designer concept



-- 
Jay Morgan
Applied cognitive scientist practicing information architecture, interaction
design, and corporate culture manipulation