> So how do you react to this? What would be your plan of action? Thoughts?
Oh, the joy of politics! I've been in this situation many times, as I'm sure others here have. Fortunately, I worked in customer service positions for about 8 years as a youngster, where I dealt with all sorts of abhorrent situations, and I've also had the benefit of learning some tricks from a couple of people that are absolute masters at making you feel good about yourself when you do something stupid (you know, not that *I've* ever done anything stupid ;) ). It's obvious that you need to "smack down" the work he's done, so the trick is in how to do it. If he's not a "superior" on the food chain, this will be a lot easier. Here's what I've done that has worked like a charm on many occasions: As gracefully as possible, you walk through a 3-step conversation. First, you compliment his efforts, telling him how much you appreciate his efforts and passion for the project. You wish more people would go above and beyond like that. Passion is infectious, and you're happy he's on your side instead of the competition. Second, you tell him that unfortunately, the work he's done doesn't fit into the project right now. It may be something you'll be able to explore later on, but the project has already been scoped and planned, and given the time and resources you have for the project, it's simply too late to try to work it in and do any meaningful design and testing on the idea. And based on your initial heuristic review, you know it would need to be fleshed out more before it could be added in a meaningful and effective way. Third, you end by saying, again, that you appreciate his efforts followed by something like, "You know, it's really not your fault. I mean, I understand your desire to contribute to the project, but we've already done a huge amount of work on it, and [we don't have the budget / this project is important and it's being rushed / insert other valid excuses here], and you couldn't possibly have known all the details of what's been done so far. In the future, you could try to get involved earlier on and make sure your ideas get heard." The reason this works is that the kind of person you have to say this to *never* ends up getting involved earlier on projects. He'll continue doing exactly what he's doing now. If this is a person who really appreciates honesty and respects your opinion and work (and likewise), do all this in a conference room, by yourselves, to avoid crushing him in front of his peers. If he's more of a social wet towel type, do it as a drive-by at his cubicle/office. Walk right up like you just came out of a meeting, lay it out, and bail. He'll be thrown off by the suddenness of it all and will completely forget to argue with you. If all else fails, you can blame the management. If your boss (or your boss' boss) is willing to take these kinds of blows for you, you can usually get away with just blaming that person. Can't argue with executive decisions. :) Of course, if this person is higher up on the ladder than you, you'll need more proof to kill the idea. Proof of low usability, proof that the timeline and budget doesn't support it, etc. But even then, the same approach usually works. When all this is said and done, find the first opportunity you can to credit him for something good in front of other people. I'm convinced someone will be offended by my reply here, but I'm not worried about that. I don't care if it's a dirty word or not - the fact is, manipulation works. It's not insincere, either. When it comes down to it, it's the polite response. Of course, now I can never use this technique on anyone on this list. :) -r- ________________________________________________________________ *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
