Just want to point out that working with outside consultants can be a great way to strategically institutionalize the importance of getting to know the audience in the first place and introducing new design techniques into a corporate culture.
At a previous position, a team I was part of spent literally years trying to change the culture to be more human centered in its' approach to building websites and apps. They never seemed to really believe us, but as soon as we found a champion to support us and give us actual money to redesign their website, we brought in two outside consulting firms - one that specialized in research and another that specialized in design. The project was a huge success and the company has since changed their ways. Frankly that entire process of evangelizing & establishing UCD into the culture was one of the most challenging and rewarding things I've ever done in my career. It simply could not have happened without the use of outside consultants. Jeff On Jan 8, 2008 11:22 PM, Jared M. Spool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Jan 8, 2008, at 2:47 PM, Robert Hoekman, Jr. wrote: > > > Well, obviously. :) I'm not suggesting that companies should listen > > better > > and simply do what users tell them, only that companies could > > listen better > > and perhaps, with a little sound judgment and analysis, avoid the > > need to > > hire outsiders to figure out their audiences for them. > > I tell our clients that hiring someone to do their user research for > them is like hiring someone to take their vacation for them. It gets > the job done, but something gets lost in the translation. > > Along the same lines, hiring someone to do their design for them > probably has similar results. > > :) > > Jared > > Jared M. Spool > User Interface Engineering > 510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845 > e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] p: +1 978 327 5561 > http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks ________________________________________________________________ *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
