Well put Scott. The "us vs. them" grandstanding and vacuous posturing that has gone on in this thread is completely at odds with the rootedness in facts and empathy that is supposed to be a cornerstone of this field.
On a more general note, I'd like to point the list to a blog post I just came across this morning. It really resonated with my own feeling of increasing unease regarding the amount of bandwidth that we spend here on wasteful, antagonizing debates: http://experiencematters.criticalmass.com/2008/02/13/less-talking-more-doing/ "The Information Architect/Interaction Design field is awash in web sites and discussion lists, though the former are (unfortunately) significantly more worthwhile than the latter. The lists are constantly filled with requests for 'best practices' around the simplest of interface issues (e.g., "Should I put my text above or to the left of a form field?"), seemingly endless debates on 'what is IA?' and, most recently, an impressively daft call—based solely on anecdotal evidence—for IAs to pursue accreditation... On the rare occasions that someone does offer up a solution they created for a project, responses typically range from "It's not that great" to "How dare you suggest that's the right answer for all users!" It makes for a nice distraction on a slow work day but the problem is that all the arguing is getting us nowhere. Debates only serve to pull IAs away from the real work to be done: improving customer experience online... So, fellow architects of information and designers of interaction, I have a modest proposal for you: UNSUBSCRIBE. Leave the lists, now, today, this hour, this minute—and don't look back. Stop worrying about what Joe IA in Ohio is doing with his forms for his customers and come up with solutions that are right for your customers—be willing to fail and to learn from that failure. Do it better next time. Stop focusing on your needs and put that energy toward the needs of your customers." At the moment, this sounds rather tempting... Dmitry On Feb 13, 2008 5:46 AM, Scott McDaniel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > This is all getting petty and silly. > > Without experience, I can see how the Agile bit doesn't map fully to a > desirable design process. > I'm a bit flummoxed by the bit-by-bit hostility and unwillingness to > heed the wise words of Egg Chen: > "We take what we like and leave the rest...like your salad bar!" > > I frequent gaming forums...I know unproductive snippiness! > > Is there nothing to be gained or learned from Agile, at least in the > critique of the development process? > > Scott > > -- > 'Life' plus 'significance' = magic. ~ Grant Morrison > ________________________________________________________________ > > 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 > ________________________________________________________________ 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
