There was a very interesting post on Luke Wroblewski (are you reading this, Luke?) entitled "Factors Limiting the Organizational Influence of Design" (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/FunctioningForm/~3/405788516/entry.asp);
His conclusions are based on his experience of presenting the "Influencing Strategy by Design" workshop (http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?607) to over a hundred professional designers across the World including teams from India, Taiwan, Japan, Europe, China, Korea, and the United States. Each time, they started the course by asking attendees to share what factors they felt were limiting their organizational influence. Each time a common set of themes emerged: organizational imbalance, lack of shared understanding, resource constraints, and market dynamics. Organizational Imbalance %u2022 My organization often prioritizes monetization and revenue over user experience. Our focus is on sales not customers. %u2022 The business units and product managers in my organization are responsible for most product decisions -not the design team %u2022 In my organization, short -term gains are often prioritized over long-term gains %u2022 Poor User Experience is not a gating factor for launching products %u2022 I%u2019m unaware of how the decision making process in my organization really works %u2022 There is a lack of respect between product management, design, engineering, marketing, and other functional teams %u2022 The design team is not involved in longer, more strategic projects the way we are in short term projects. Lack of Shared Understanding %u2022 People in my organization do not understand the of value of design %u2022 Our design organizations do not have a common process or method of scoping our work %u2022 Information exchange is difficult because we have distributed teams %u2022 The design team is not interested in the broader responsibilities required for strategic influence %u2022 The business goals behind our products and initiatives are unclear %u2022 Design is seen as less important than just getting something built %u2022 My design team needs a better understanding of the business perspective behind products Resources %u2022 We do not have enough people or time to be strategic. There%u2019s too much other work to be done %u2022 We have a lack of senior contributors who can do strategic work on our team %u2022 Our team has limited access to data, and research that could help build support for our strategic ideas %u2022 My organization outsources a lot of our design efforts %u2022 We lack engineering and instrumentation support for our strategic work Market Dynamics %u2022 In my organization, the emphasis is on time to market %u2022 There is a lack of consumer enthusiasm for my company in the marketplace %u2022 Our top position in the marketplace leads to complacency %u2022 My organization faces increased competition %u2022 Our work is allows compared to or a reaction to the market leader { Itamar Medeiros } Information Designer designing clear, understandable communication by caring to structure, context, and presentation of data and information mobile ::: 86 13671503252 website ::: http://designative.info/ aim ::: itamarlmedeiros skype ::: designative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=33964 ________________________________________________________________ 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
