I've been here too, done that, and designed the T-shirt. I agree with Robert and Jim's responses, pretty much verbatim. There are more than a few reliable ways to handle this situation. I too had a stint as customer service in retail and corporate tech support for several years, so I've learned to "help people find the right direction" in certain projects over time.
One technique I've honed over the years in this situation: Talk to the PM to find out what's at the heart of his design, that he keeps pushing for. There has to be some nugget that he thinks is being overlooked, and I'm sure his design is just a vehicle to push that through. Once you find out the 2-3 things he's really pushing for, cave on one of them. Build it into your design, somehow, and let the PM know that you're incorporating the most usable elements of his design. Then (as Robert says), tell the PM that you'll build in the additional elements in the next phase of the project, as soon as he can document how to overcome X, Y and Z implementation problems with the design. You just discovered those, so feed them back to the PM and have HIM figure out how to solve them - after the project. Along the "manipulation lines", I don't mind being self-deprecating a little to help the PM know that not everyone is perfect. This doesn't work well if the PM already thinks you're an idiot, but if he seems down on himself for not being able to accomplish his goal, relating more directly to him or her will usually help. I also agree with others - I HATE this situation, and others like it. It's one of the reasons I left the big corporate world recently, and moved back to start-up land. At least I get to invent my own politics for awhile. Bryan http://www.bryanminihan.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Hoekman, Jr. Sent: Thursday, December 13, 2007 11:48 PM To: D E Cc: IxDA Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Uh, who designed that? > So how do you react to this? What would be your plan of action? Thoughts? Oh, the joy of politics! ________________________________________________________________ *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
