Ali, As Scott said
Think about what approaches fit the culture, attitude and environment you're in. You should be good at this, it's a kind of problem solving, which is what designers do. I have written on my blog http://blog.feralabs.com/2008/12/why-i-started-webnographer/ the attitudes of one programmer to Usability. Maybe this will help build an understanding. I would very much recommend not showing them Allan Cooper's "The Inmates are running the asylum", it would be as effective as throwing a brick at them. As Jared Spool said :- Creating stereotypes by job description isn't any better than creating them > by race or religion or sexual preference. One book that may help you is "How to win friends and influence them." Build friends first. Don't go negative. Focus on the positives, and as many people have said above the shared vision. Tell them what you think works for the current product? Ask them what you can do for them. What do they think needs improving? Find out why do they program. For me it was coolness of having millions of people use the code that I was writing. If the product was not usable then I would not have had that ego boost. People naturally form themselves into tribes. East vs West, or Left vs Right, or Apple vs Windows. At the moment there are two tribes in your organisation you and the Engineers. Move the focus of the "them" to the competition. Look at how Apple does it with the other side being Windows. All of this takes time, but far less time, then if a Us vs Them battle starts. Good luck James 2009/1/28 Scott Berkun <i...@scottberkun.com> > > Ali wrote: > > > > As a User Centered Design graduate I find it quite irritating to > > be working in an environment where engineers run everything. > > My position does not allow me to say much yet as a Tech Writer/Project > > Manager assisting the engineers on usability issues I have had it! > > All the responses I've seen so far have been very supportive and kind, > which > is cool - but it also compels me to say the unpleasant (but critical) > things > that have gone unmentioned. > > You have to take some responsibility here. You picked the company. You > picked the job. As engineering driven as it is, and as evil or stubborn the > people might be, you still chose to go to work there. Some of the > responsibility is yours, and the sooner you take some responsibility, > instead of blaming others, the faster you will sort this out. If you were > misled about the job, that's unfortunate, but now you know some new things > to look out for in the next one. > > Many of the suggestions I've seen on this thread are familiar and fine, but > take a design centric approach. Which in this case is all wrong. You are in > an engineering environment and you appear to have little power. This means > you need to make arguments in a way engineers will respond to, and you need > to seek out sources of power to support your arguments. You are on their > turf. This doesn't mean be a whuss, but it does mean BE A DESIGNER. Think > about what approaches fit the culture, attitude and environment you're in. > You should be good at this, it's a kind of problem solving, which is what > designers do. If those approaches bore you or take too much time for your > liking, then it's time to go elsewhere. But the culture you're in is the > culture you're in. If you go to Iceland, and complain about how it's not > Hawaii, don't expect much sympathy from the Icelandians, much less for them > to help you make Iceland more like Hawaii. > > One of the worst things to do in this situation is to call a big > presentation together where you more or less tell a room full of people how > wrong they are, how bad what they've made is (ignoring completely that to > them it's their pride and joy), and why things should be done how you want > them to be. You will be oh so easy to ignore after this as your reputation > as a frustrated/bitter designer will be sealed forever (Many many many > designers have this reputation). If I've only been in a culture a month, > It'd be very difficult to know how to talk to such a large group. I'd be > shooting in the dark. > > It's much smarter to find your supporters are and start with them. This > probably means whoever wrote your job description and hired you. Clearly > they are interested in what they can do to make you more successful. Then > look at all the programmers, or the managers - which one is least > close-minded? Least resistant? How much of your view of things do they > share? 50%? 75%? 5%? Even on the worst team in the world there has to be > someone who sucks the least. Start there. Find the sweet spot for change > where you have the most support and the greatest opportunity. Your > supporters are locals in the culture and can advise on steps to take, get > you a friendlier ear from other possible allies, and your planning begins. > Only then would I consider approaching larger groups, advocating changes, > etc. > > Keep in mind as a new person you have zero credibility. Especially if you > are the first Designer they've ever worked with. Hell, many people are > probably afraid of you. They fear you will want to take some of the fun > parts of their jobs away (which in fact, is probably true). So until people > hear you saying smart things, being of use in a daily sense (even if it's > just finding bugs, giving good comments on spec reviews), and delivering on > things you promise to do, you will have little credibility, and will have > earned little trust. If you stay an untrusted outsider, it's impossible to > do much of anything in an environment like yours. In fact I'd say goal #1 > is > to earn the trust and respect of the key people in your smallest circle of > work. > > This might be of use as well: Designing in hostile territory. > http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/nov2005/id20051116_109051.htm > > -Scott > > Scott Berkun > www.scottberkun.com > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! 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