> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Christopher Fahey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> If you broaden the definition of design in this way, then it's clear > that countless companies were founded by and/or eventually helmed by > designers. > > (long stretch of excellent stuff trimmed out) I agree. I'm not much for discipline boundries anyway. Anyone who is inventing something or trying to solve a problem in the real world is doing some kind of design work in there somewhere no matter what their job title says. > One of the issues here is simply the human lifespan and the paths we > take as professionals. To build a business often takes years, and > several failures and false starts. For someone deeply interested in > making great design happen and building great user experiences, > sometimes the most reliable path to success is through increasing > their worth and skills as a designer, moving from design position to > design position, starting a design consultancy. Totally get what you're saying. My point, which is totally a matter of opinion, is that there are tons of excellent professional designers in the world's corporations, but most of them see only about 20% of their potential value realized. The solution to this problem is not more designers. It's puting people into general management roles who can empower the designers that work for them to get that number up to 50% or more. As much as I'm a believer in advocacy and grass-roots persuasion, big change only happens from above. I seriously believe the best thing an individual designer, one who has the potential for broader leadership, can do to make great design happen is to stop designing. Focus instead on being promoted into general management where *they* are in control, or closer to it, over the distribution of power between designers, engineers and marketers. Because honestly it's at that level that the decisions are made that make great design possible or impossible. -Scott Scott Berkun www.scottberkun.com ________________________________________________________________ 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
