Re: [IxDA Discuss] What do you think should be the 3 primary roles/objectives of an interaction designer?
1. User Advocate. 2. User Advocate. 3. User Advocate. Seriously though. Someone who can create the most innovative and beautiful wireframes and prototypes etc. is not as useful as someone who promotes the end user's views to the larger project team. A second key role is to interact and often translate between marketing and development. A good interaction designer needs to be able to speak both marketese and developerese. He/she needs to be able to create wireframes, prototypes and specs need to be meaningful to both marketing and developers. Third role is to own the design and make sure it meets internal stakeholder and end user needs. By this I don't mean "I own it therefore what I say goes." I mean that the interaction designer is the central resource for the interaction design -- taking feedback from marketing and development to ensure the design meets business needs and works within technical constraints etc. etc. Heather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38049 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What to do in an environment run by engineers??
Ali, It sounds to me like you want to build a collaborative environment where you have opinion is respected. So share your toys and invite them to play with you. If you want qualitative research make it happen somehow. If you don't have a budget, arrange for people as close to your target user as possible to run through some tasks with the product. Do this by using other people in the company or friends and family if you can -- and compensate them by buying them lunch. Invite people to observe the testing, and record the sessions for others to watch. (Kill 2 birds with one stone by asking the engineers to be the videographer to get them into the room with you). Nothing makes people believe in qualitative research like seeing someone work with their product and react to it. Something else that has worked well for me in the past when I needed to build respect and build a collaborative environment is to set up a cross-functional design/brainstorming meeting. Invite a cross functional set of people to attend a meeting where the objective is to come up with 3 different solutions. Make it a structured (but fun and creative ) meeting where everyone has an opportunity to contribute what they know at all stages. Organize the meeting around a series of topcis like: What do we know about the problem? What do we know about the users? How can we solve the solution? Aim for at least 3. What would each potential solution look like? (high level design ideas) What are the strengths and weaknesses for each propose solution? What could be done to fix the weaknesses in each proposal? At the end of the meeting offer to take the couple strongest ideas away and develop them further and then bring them back to the team to review. In doing something like that, you have the opportunity to participate and show that you have valuable contributions, but everyone else also gets a chance to be heard. I always find I come out of these meetings with great new ideas, and a few people in the organization more willing to include me and my thoughts in the future. A bonus to the cross-functional meeting -- I very seldom have to ever argue against an idea %u2013 someone else in the meeting does it for me. I can just support the best ideas on the table. %uF04A Heather Searl User Experience Consultant www.heathersearl.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=37605 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What to choose? (technical writer or technical tester)
Hi Ali, My 2 cents as a hiring manager. . . Evaluate the positions on a few different things. Which position jazzes you the most. To transition into the role you eventually want you need to also show that you are a good employee, hard worker, fast learner, dedicated etc. An education in UCD isn't enough for an internal transfer, and it is hard to show off all of your other skills in a position you hate. If neither position excites you -- wait for a better one if you can afford to financially. Which position do you think you can do a better job at. Showing competence in one area breeds confidence in a hiring manager that you can be competent in another. Also there may be opportunities in both positions to work with the Interaction Design team -- but that will require the permission of your current manager. You are more likely to get that permission if you are a valued employee. Which position will let you learn the most. If you could use a stronger background in the technical side -- a test position might help you build those skills. If you could use some work on written communication skills, tech writing will let you work on that. (Yah, I realize this could contradict my previous point). Which position would give you more opportunities to work with the Interaction Design team? For example, I often use tech writers as note takers in usability tests -- they tend to be very detail oriented, they think procedurally AND they tend to take really good notes because they have had practice interviewing SMEs. I also like to run design ideas past a few people in the QA team because they tend to be concerned about edge cases and where things will fail -- some can spot a design flaw or oversight a mile away. So in short evaluate what you can bring to the positions as well as what the positions can give to you. I would hire someone from either position. UCD skills would count in the decision, but so would work ethic, reputation and the additional skills the person would bring to the design team. I do have a bias though -- I started my career as a tech writer. Heather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=35392 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
