Addressing content, method and process, I've been a fan of Scott Berkun. Ahead of his time, his early perspectives may be especially relevant given this challenge. E.g., http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/category/teachingtraining/
- Andrew Andrew Schechterman, Ph.D. Denver, Colorado 303-886-2440 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.LinkedIn.com/in/andrewschechterman On Jan 4, 2008 9:16 PM, Desiree McCrorey < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Baruch Sachs < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > My company has given me the opportunity to teach incoming technical and > > project management type folks about what it is that we do. The goal is > to > > help these folks understand where we come in in the overall product > > development methodology. > > > > I have about 2-3 hours to give these folks a sense of what our > profession is > > about, our activities and the value it adds when properly incorporated > into > > a project. So I am curious: given those admittedly loose parameters what > > > topics should I be sure to cover? > > First, I'd recommend putting yourself in their 'shoes'. What would you > give a > crap about wrt IX if you were a project/technical manager. At the simplest > > level, you'd probably want to know how us types makes your managerial life > easier, better, more efficient, save money, etc. Reflecting that in > whatever > you present should help keep their interests piqued. > > Another approach is to tap into their own usability experiences, > especially > those they unknowingly struggle with everyday. > > For example, when I teach usability to folks who work in a tech > environment, I > find out how many accounts and passwords they have to manage. In one > company, > between building, phone, computer, various networks, multiple email > accounts, > bug reporting account, special security accounts, each employee averaged > about > 16 UIDs and password pairs just to do their daily tasks. This was > something > they couldn't believe and actually denied until I tallied them up on the > spot. > > Perhaps, within your audience there are cell phones with clear examples of > great and crappy interaction models. > > When your audience gains a new perspective/insight into their familiar > world > and sees how poor UI design impacts their daily activities, you'll have > most of > them hooked. > > So fine. They can see how usability could impact them personally. Now > address > how these activities can impact them professionally. There many great > product > design stories and how companies who used the proper methods and > strategies to > produce those great products reaped lots of money, improved their > reputation > and businesses. > > As managers, they'd probably like to hear a couple of those tales. > > Once you feel they're putty in your hands, they digest the details of how > you > need to integrate your methods and tasks into the product lifecycle. > > Good luck. > > desiree > > Desiree McCrorey > UI Architect/Web Producer > www.healthline.com > desiredcreations.com > > ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
